Elements oe Methodism: 



SERIES OF SHORT LECTURES 



ADDRESSED 



To One Beginning a. Life of 
Godliness. 



BY 



D. STEVENSON, D. D. 



r 



(MAY 21 883 
v!> ■No.£3.dfl..r$ 



CINCINNATI : 

WALDEN & STOWE, 

NEW YORK: PHILLIPS & HUNT. 
I88 3 . 



THE LIBRARY 

OF CONG&SSS 

WASH! ngtom 



Copyright by 
WALDEN & STOWE, 
1883. 



PREFACE. 



OFTEN, when desiring to recommend some small 
book to probationers and otter persons, for gen- 
eral information on the subject of Methodism, I have 
been at a loss to know what particular book to select. 
The Discipline I have sometimes hesitated to place in 
the hands of such persons, for the reason that, while 
it contains more of Methodism than any other book 
of its size, it contains it in the unattractive form of 
mere declaration and statement, unrelieved by expla- 
nation or illustration. 

The little volume which is here given to the public 
is given with the hope that it may, in some measure, 
supply the need indicated. I have endeavored to 
embody in it as full presentations of the doctrines, 
discipline, work, history, and usages of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church as it has been possible for me to do 
consistently with the idea of making it a cheap ele- 
mentary book. 

The Twenty-five Articles of Keligion, though not 
given in it in the form in which they appear in the 
Discipline, are all included, being distributed under 
appropriate heads. The discussions in the chapters 



4 



PKEFACE. 



devoted to these Articles have been made to conform 
to the doctrinal statements contained in the Articles. 
In this way the dry bones of the Articles have had 
some flesh put upon them; and if they shall not 
thereby have been rendered, to any extent, positively 
attractive to the ordinary reader, they will, I trust, 
have been rendered, to some little extent at least, 
less unattractive. 

It is hoped that the book may be found especially 
useful in the training of probationers. These persons 
do not receive the kind of attention in the ordinary 
class-meeting which is requisite to fit them for the 
highest degree of usefulness in the Church. Some 
pastors are seeing the necessity of taking them under 
their own immediate supervision and instruction. The 
thought of the possible use of this book, in the 
hands of pastors and probationers, in a course of in- 
struction of this kind, has had its influence with me 
in respect to the matter and form which I have given 
to it. But it is not designed exclusively for pro- 
bationers. It is hoped that it may be found useful 
in the hands of many persons not in any way con- 
nected with the Church, and in the hands of some 
who are in full membership in it. Possibly, also, 
some of our young ministers may find it useful to 
themselves as a book of reference. 

THE AUTHOR. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEE I. 

Greeting to One beginning a Life of Godliness — Only True 
Life — Effort needed — Emotion must be supported by 
Knowledge, Page 11 

CHAPTER II. 

The Sacred Scriptures the Sources of the Knowledge re- 
quired — Canonical Books enumerated in Fifth Article 
of Religion — " Contain all Things necessary to Salva- 
tion " — Same Article of Religion — Old Testament not 
Contrary to New— Sixth Article of Religion — The Two 
Testaments compose the Bible, 14 

CHAPTER III. 

Of God— Pagan Worship— The God of the Bible— The 
Trinity — First Article of Religion — Mystery, .... 20 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Fall of Man and its Consequences — Man as cre- 
ated — Sin — Penalty — Effect on Posterity — Seventh Ar- 
ticle of Religion — Proofs — Grace needed — Eighth Article 
of Religion — Proofs, 24 

CHAPTER V. 

The Atonement — God's Goodness — His Son our Atone- 
ment — Dead, Buried, Risen, Ascended — Our Intercessor 
in Heaven — Will come again to judge all Men — Second 
and Third Articles of Religion, 29 



6 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Extent of the Atonement and the Condition of 
Salvation — Atonement for All — Salvation Possible to 
All — Not forced on Any — Faith the Condition — Ninth 
Article of Religion, . . . Page 34 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Holy Ghost and His Work — Procession and Divin- 
ity of — Fourth Article of Religion— Reproves the World, 
comforts Believers — New Birth— Continued Presence 
of— " If Children, then Heirs," . . 39 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Christian Life — Twelfth Article of Religion — Sin 
Possible, but not Necessary, after Justification — God 
pardons Penitent Backsliders — Risks to be avoided — 
Good Works— Tenth Article of Religion — Works of Su- 
pererogation — Eleventh Article of Religion, .... 44 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Future State— The Soul Alive after Death— Purga- 
tory — Fourteenth Article of Religion — Restorationists — 
Resurrection — Souls and Bodies reunited — Judgment — 
Third Article of Religion, 48 

CHAPTER X. 

The Church— Denned in Tenth Article of Religion— Mem- 
bers of— Spoken against — Rights of Property — Twenty- 
fourth Article of Religion — Relations to Civil Govern- 
ments — Twenty-third Article of Religion — Oaths — 
Twenty-fifth Article of Religion— The Word preached— 
Sacraments administered — Of the Sacraments — Six- 
teenth Article of Religion — Services in Latin— Fifteenth 
Article of Religion— Marriage of Ministers— Twenty- 
first Article of Religion— Rites and Ceremonies— Twen- 
ty-second Article of Religion, 5o 



CONTENTS. 



7 



CHAPTER XI. 

Baptism — Its Meaning — Defined in Seventeenth Article of 
Religion — Profession and Renunciation required of Can- 
didates — Water and Spirit — Water Baptism and Spirit- 
ual Baptism — The Lord's-supper Memorial of Death of 
Christ — Water Baptism, Memorial of Gift of the 
Spirit, . k Page 62 



CHAPTER XII. 

Baptism — Mode — Choice allowed, and why— Church not 
Indifferent — Holy Ghost Baptism Efficacious ; Water 
Baptism Significant — Holy Ghost descends; Water 
should descend — Quantity in Respect to the Water of 
Baptism Nothing — Baptism of Christ and Others — Sum- 
ming up, 72 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The Baptism of Young Children — Seventeenth Article of 
Religion — In Place of Circumcision — No Repeal of 
Rights — Christ — Peter — Household Baptisms — Objec- 
tion, " Sign of Profession "—What Benefit ?— What Es- 
sential — Who to present — The Child's Rights — Baptized 
Children — Objection — Guardians, 84 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The Lord's-supper — Its Meaning — Christ's Words— Tran- 
substantiation and Other Romish Errors — Con substan- 
tiation — The True Doctrine — Eighteenth, Nineteenth, 
and Twentieth Articles of Religion, 98 



CHAPTER XV. 

The Lord's-supper — By whom and in what Spirit to be 
received — Not Ordinary Supper — Who " rightly " re- 
ceive it — Who " worthily and with Faith" — Effect of 
Proper Observance — Some Decline, 105 



8 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEE XVI. 

Doing no Harm — Avoiding Evil — Profanity — Sabbath- 
breaking — Intemperance — Slaveholding — Contentious- 
ness — Unlawful Trading — Usury — Evil-speaking — Vio- 
lation of Golden Rule — Display in Dress — Improper 
Diversions, Songs and Books — Softness and Self-indul- 
gence — Avarice — Improper Indebtedness, . . Page 110 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Doing Good— To the Bodies of Men— To their Souls— To 
Fellow-Christians — By Diligence and Frugality — By Pa- 
tience and Self-denial, 120 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Attendance upon the Ordinances of the House of 
God— Public Worship— The Ministry of the Word— The 
Supper of the Lord, 125 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Family and Private Devotions — Anciently observed — ■ 
Necessary — Morning and Evening— At Table — Parental 
Responsibility, 130 

CHAPTER XX. 

Finances — The Support of the Gospel and the Benev- 
olent Enterprises of the Church — Money required — 
Rule of Old — Gospel at Home — Benevolences: Worn- 
out Preachers, Missions, Sunday-school Union, Tracts, 
Church Extension, Freedmen, Education, Woman's 
Mission Work, Bible Society— Method, 134 

CHAPTER XXL 

The History of Methodism — Church of England formed — 
Condition afterwards — Reformation needed — The In- 
struments—The Wesleys at Oxford— In Georgia— Their 



CONTENTS. 



9 



Eeturn — Herrnhut — Richer Experiences — Preaching — 
Whitefield and John Wesley at Bristol — Corner-stone 
of First Chapel — Class-leaders — Lay Preaching — White- 
field's Views — Alienation — Heroism — First Confer- 
ence-Attitude of the Church — Charles Wesley — Meth- 
odist Sentiment — In America — Progress — Fletcher and 
Coke — Revolution — Coke ordained Bishop — Methodist 
Episcopal Church formed — Asbury ordained Bishop — 
Progress — Death of Charles Wesley — Adam Clarke — 
Death of John Wesley — State of Methodism at the 
Time — Predictions — Methodism in Great Britain and 
the United States — Coke and Asbury — Progress — Divis- 
ions — Methodism To-day, Page 145 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Membership, Probationary and Full — Probationary 
Membership — Object and Origin of — Nature of — Pastor 
receives — Leaders' and Stewards' Meeting recommends 
for Full Membership — How received — Persons received 
from Other Churches — Withdrawal — Note of Recom- 
mendation — Certificate of Membership — Where Mem- 
bership to be Held — Certificate not to be retained by 
the Receiver— Temporary Absence, 169 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

How Long, and under what Circumstances — Many turn 
back — Previous Understanding of Difficulties neces- 
sary—Surprises — Doubts to be settled at Once — Have 
no Mental Reservations, . . * • 176 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Your Aim — How High — Perfect and Imperfect Chris- 
tians — Who the Perfect — God's Will — How attained — 
Errors of Judgment Possible — Backsliding Possible, but 
not Necessary— Perfection Relative — Exhortation, . 180 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



(Jljkptef I. 



GREETING. 



EAE FKIEKD, — You have indicated a desire 



J— ^ to live a life of godliness. In this you have 
acted wisely. The godly life is the only life that is 
consistent with your exalted nature and relations. It 
is the only true life. Why should we, the most highly 
endowed and the most richly blessed of all the crea- 
tures of God on earth, not have the profoundest re- 
gard for the character of God, and the most earnest 
desire to be like him? Why should we not desire 
to do his will and to live in his favor? Why should 
we not be willing to place ourselves under his watch- 
care and guidance, and to trust to his providence for 
protection and happiness ? Why should we not rejoice 
in his promises, and constantly desire his presence? 

It was said by one of old, one who spoke from the 
largest experience and the deepest reflection, that the 
fear of the Lord — not the terror nor the dread of the 
Lord, but a proper regard for his character and his 
claims — is the beginning of wisdom. By this he 
meant that such a feeling is the beginning of the only 




12 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



truly wise course of life ; that a life regulated and 
governed by it is a life of safety, a life that can not 
end iD disaster, however difficult and dangerous the 
way may be through which it leads. 

The godly life is a life of the most satisfying real- 
izations and of the most glorious prospects. It is a 
life that leads from all that is undesirable to all that 
is desirable; from sin to righteousness, from condem- 
nation to approval, from imperfection to perfection, 
from misery to bliss, from labor to rest, from mortal- 
ity to immortality, from earth to heaven, from asso- 
ation with sinners to companionship with the glorified. 

It is the life which God would have us live. To 
be godly is to be like God. This he wishes us to be. 
He wishes us to be children to him, that he may be 
a Father to us. Having entered upon this life, there- 
fore, you have at length begun to act in accordance 
with the will of God. 

Bat human wisdom, as well as divine, approves 
your course. Many persons who are the least inclined 
to live this life are constrained to admit that no other 
life is proper to any one. In view, therefore, of the 
wisdom of the step which you have taken, we extend 
to you a most cordial greeting, rejoicing in the fact 
that you have placed yourself in the company of those 
who value the favor of God and the salvation of 
their own souls above all other things. 

But in extending to you an expression of the pleas- 
ure which we feel iu view of the desire you have indi- 
cated, we think it highly important to impress upon you 



GREETING. 



13 



the necessity of fostering and strengthening that desire 
as assiduously as possible. Good desires, like coals of 
fire on a hearth-stone, cease to burn if left to them- 
selves. As you did not come into your present frame 
of mind by accident, do not allow yourself to fall into 
the error of supposing that you will continue in it 
without effort. Nothing that is truly good grows spon- 
taneously in this world, that has been so badly injured 
by sin. Every thing of the kind needs help to cause 
it to grow. It will be necessary for you, therefore, if 
you wish to realize the richest fruit of your good de- 
sire, to pursue a course of study and reflection, and, 
at the same time, to cultivate the habit of constantly 
lifting up your heart to God in prayer for his blessing 
upon your efforts. It is only the intelligent, thought- 
ful Christian, the one whose mind is well furnished 
with the truth, and whose conscience is kept con- 
stantly alive by it, that is able, in the most difficult 
and trying circumstances of life, to resist the tempta- 
tions of the adversary of souls, and stand steadfast in 
the love and fear of God. Emotion, however essential 
as an element of religion it may be, does not constitute 
the whole of religion. If unaccompanied by a knowl- 
edge of the truth, it is like a spring of water which 
bursts forth from the earth in rainy weather, but di- 
minishes its flow when the rain ceases to fall, and soon 
disappears altogether. 

In order to the attainment of any high and perma- 
nent degree of excellence in the divine life, emotion 
must be supported and sustained by knowledge. 



14 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



C^kptef II. 
THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 

THE knowledge which is essential to excellence* in 
the life of godliness is not ordinary knowledge. 
Much of this kind of knowledge is very desirable and 
will be of advantage to you, even in your efforts to 
live that life, if its use be directed by another and 
superior kind of knowledge. That other and superior 
kind of knowlege is sacred knowledge, the knowledge 
that is contained in the sacred or Holy Scriptures. 
These Scriptures are sometimes called canonical. They 
are so called for the reason that they have been de- 
cided to be of divine origin, and have been so declared 
by the canons — that is, the rules or laws — of the 
Church. Hence the declaration that " in the name 
of the Holy Scriptures we do understand those canon- 
ical books of the Old and New Testaments of whose 
authority was never any doubt in the Church : Gen- 
esis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, 
Joshua, Judges, Euth, The First Book of Samuel^ 
The Second Book of Samuel, The First Book of 
Kings, The Second Book of Kings, The First Book 
of Chronicles, The Second Book of Chronicles, The 
Book of Ezra, The Book of Nchemiah, The Book of 
Esther, The Book of Job, The Psalms, The Proverbs, 



THE SACKED SCRIPTURES. 



15 



Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher, Cantica, or Songs of 
Solomon, Four Prophets the greater, Twelve Prophets 
the less. All the books of the New Testament, as 
they are commonly received, we do receive and account 
canonical." (See Art. V of Religion, in the Disci- 
pline, of the Methodist Episcopal Church.) All other 
books contain the products of the human understand- 
ing. These contain those of the divine mind. Men 
did the writing ; but they did it as they were " moved 
by the Holy Ghost." The contents of these Scrip- 
tures, therefore, are revelations from God, and if any 
other writings are worthy to be held in high esteem, 
these are worthy to be held in ten thousand times 
higher esteem. They are to a person who is endeav- 
oring to live a life of godliness what a compass and a 
chart are to a mariner on the deep — matters of indis- 
pensable necessity. In them the way of godliness is 
clearly pointed out. General principles are laid down, 
and often specific directions given, by which it may be 
easily known what things are proper to be done, and 
what are not. And, as the way of godliness is the 
way of salvation, these Scriptures contain what is 
necessary to salvation. And not only so, but as is 
declared in the Article of Religion from which we 
have just quoted, they " contain all things necessary 
to salvation ; so that whatsoever is not read therein, 
nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of 
any man, that it should be believed as an article of 
faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to sal- 
vation." 



16 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



This full, explicit, and emphatic declaration has 
been found to be necessary, in order to guard against 
the influence of an error into which Roman Catholics 
have fallen. They affirm that the Sacred Scriptures 
alone do not contain all that is necessary to salvation, 
but that, in order to arrive at a perfect and sufficient 
rule of faith and practice, and a perfect guide in the 
way of godliness and salvation, it is necessary to add 
tradition to the Sacred Scriptures, and to have the 
two explained and declared by the Romish Church. 
Tradition is that which is handed down from genera- 
tion to generation without being committed to writing. 
It may sometimes contain a measure of truth. It as 
frequently contains a great deal of error. 

This doctrine of Romanists finds no support nor 
countenance in the words of Christ. He said, " Search 
the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal 
life : and they are they which testify of me." (John 
v, 39.) So far from being supported by the words of 
Christ, it is condemned by them. In speaking at an- 
other time, he said: " Howbeit, in vain do they wor- 
ship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of 
men ; for laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold 
the tradition of men" (Mark vii, 7, 8.) 

At the time when Christ was among men, the 
Jews devoted very little attention to the study of the 
Scriptures. They were guided in spiritual things 
chiefly by their traditions. Hence they were ignorant 
of the signs of the Messiahship, and were not pre- 
pared to receive the Savior in his true character. 



THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. . 17 

And the same error which blinded their eyes to his 
claims has caused Romanists to pervert the truths 
which he taught, now that he is no longer on earth. 

While, therefore, in studying the Sacred Scrip- 
tures, you may, with perfect propriety, receive all the 
aid that comes to your hand, in order to your attain-, 
ing to a correct understanding of the facts and truths 
taught in them, you should never allow yourself to 
accept any statements or explanations, whether from 
private persons or from the official representatives of 
the Church, which, upon thorough examination, you 
find to be opposed to the principles clearly taught in 
these sacred w r ritings. Paul said to Timothy, " From 
a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which 
are able to make thee wise unto salvation through 
faith which is in Jesus Christ." (2 Tim. iii, 15.) What 
was true of the Scriptures in relation to Timothy is 
true of them in relation to all other persons ; they are 
able to make them wise unto salvation. 

In guarding you against this error of Roman 
Catholics, it is necessary, at the same time, to guard 
you against an error into which some others have 
fallen. It is held by some that the Old Testament 
Scriptures were designed exclusively for the Jews, and 
that only the New Testament Scriptures are necessary 
for Christians. This error is met and condemned by 
the following declaration : ' ' The Old Testament is not 
contrary to the New ; for both in the Old and New 
Testaments everlasting life is offered to mankind by 
Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and 

2 



18 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



man, being both God and man. Wherefore they are 
not to be heard who feign that the old fathers did 
look only for transitory promises. Although the law 
given from God by Moses, as touching ceremonies 
and rites, doth not bind Christians, nor ought the 
civil precepts thereof of necessity to be received in 
any commonwealth, yet, notwithstanding, no Christian 
whatsoever is free from the obedience of the com- 
mandments which are called moral." (See Article 
VI, of Religion, in the Discipline.) 

It was to the Old Testament Scriptures that Christ 
referred when he said to the Jews, in the words al- 
ready quoted, " Search the Scriptures, for in them ye 
think ye have eternal life; and they are they which 
testify of me as not a line of the New Testament 
Scriptures had at that time been written. It was to 
the Old Testament Scriptures that Paul referred, 
when, in writing to Timothy, he said that the Scrip- 
tures in which the latter had been instructed were 
able to make him wise unto salvation; and it was of 
them, as well as of the New Testament Scriptures, that 
he was speaking when he said, in 2 Tim. hi, 16, 17: 
" All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is 
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for 
instruction in righteousness; that the man of God 
may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good 
works." 

The Sacred Scriptures, then, are the Scriptures of 
both Testaments, the old and the New. Neither Tes- 
tameut alone furnishes us with a full and complete 



THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 



19 



revelation of all that God has deemed it necessary for 
us to know concerning himself, ourselves, and the way 
of godliness and salvation. We find this full and com- 
plete revelation in the two Testaments taken together. 
These two Testaments compose the blessed Bible, the 
Book of God. 

Take this book. Value it as a most precious gift 
from God to mankind. Make its principles yours. 
Regulate your conduct by its precepts. Aspire to at- 
tain to the ends which it holds out to view. Cherish 
its great and precious promises, and your life will 
be acceptable to God, and your eternity blissful and 
glorious. 



20 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



dlikptef III. 



OF GOD. 



IHE first thing which it is important for you to do, 



is to consider the nature and character of Him 
whom you are trying to imitate and make your friend 
and protector ; that is, God. 

Pagans have been wont to bow down before images 
of gold and silver and stone, which, having eyes, see 
not, and having ears, hear not — calling upon them 
and worshiping them as gods. They have miscon- 
ceived the nature of God. The Scriptures teach us 
that "we ought not to think that the Godhead is like 
unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art and man's 
device" (Acts xvh, 29) ; that God is not inanimate, but 
" the living God" (Jer. x, 10) ; having " life in him- 
self" (John v, 26) ; that he is not perishable, as the 
images of the pagans are, but that he endureth ' 'for- 
ever" (Psa. cii, 12) ; is u the everlasting God" (Gen. 
xxi, 33) ; that he does not possess a body, but "is a 
spirit" (John iv, 24); and is, therefore, "invisible" 
(1 Tim. i, 17). In regard to his power and wisdom, 
evidences of which we see in the things about us and 
in ourselves, they declare that he is " the Lord God 
omnipotent" (Rev. xix, 6), and that his " understand- 
ing is infinite" (Psa. cxlvii, 5) ; in a word, that he is 




OF GOD. 



21 



the "only wise God" (Jude 25). Of his goodness 
they say that he is " abundant " in it (Ex. xxxi v, 6) ; 
that " the earth is full" of it (Psa. xxxiii, 5) ; that 
it " endureth continually 99 (Psa. lii, 1) ; and that it is 
evermore being displayed to mankind in acts of love, 
of compassion, and of blessing. God was addressed 
by those to whom he revealed himself, of old, in these 
words : " Blessed be thy glorious name, which is ex- 
alted above all blessing and praise. Thou, even thou, 
art Lord alone ; thou hast made heaven, the heaven 
of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all 
things that are therein, the seas and all that is 
therein, and thou preservest them all." (ISTehemiah 
ix, 5, 6.) He is, therefore, according to the Scrip- 
tures, " the true God" (Jer. x, 10), and besides him 
there is none; "for I," saith he, "am God, and there 
is none else." (Isa. xlv, 22.) "The Lord our God 
is one Lord" (Deut. vi, 4) ; and he, and he only, is 
Creator, Preserver, and Benefactor. 

But while there is but one God, he is sometimes 
spoken of in the Scriptures in one relation or charac- 
ter, and sometimes in another. At times, for instance, 
he is spoken of as a Father. Christ, in teaching the 
Lord's Prayer, began it with the words, "Our Father 
which art in heaven." (Matt, vi, 9.) In teaching 
his disciples that they should not give undue honor 
to men, he said, " For one is your Father, which is in 
heaven." (Matt, xxiii, 9.) In speaking of himself he 
said, "For him hath God the Father sealed." (John 
vi, 27.) At other times he is spoken of as a Son. One, 



22 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



for instance, who, in the first verse of the first chapter 
of the Gospel of John is called God, is, in the 34th 
verse of the same chapter, called " the Son of God." 
In John vi, divine power is several times claimed for 
one who, in the sixty-ninth verse of the same chapter, 
is called " the Son of the living God." Again, in 
John x, 36, we have the phrase, " the Son of God/ 
At other times still he is spoken of as the Holy Ghost. 
Peter said to Ananias (Acts v, 3), "Why hath Satan 
filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Ghost V and imme- 
diately afterwards (verse 4) he said to him, " Thou 
hast not lied unto men, but unto God" thus showing 
that the Holy Ghost and God are one and the same. 
Again, in 1 Cor. hi, 16, we are told that we are the 
temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in 
us. If we are the temple of God, it is God that 
dwelleth in us. But we are told that it is the Holy 
Ghost that dwelleth in us. Hence, the Holy Ghost 
is God, and God the Holy Ghost. 

In several passages God is spoken of in all three of 
these relations or characters — Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost — at one and the same time. In Matt, xxviii, 
19, for instance, we have the following form of words: 
" Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of 
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." In 2 Cor. xiii, 14, 
we have a form of benediction in these words : " The 
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, 
and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all." 

There is, therefore, but one God ; but that God is 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. It is customary to 



OF GOD. 



23 



speak of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as persons, 
and to say that there are three persons in one God- 
head. This doctrine is called the doctrine of the Trin- 
ity, and is opposed to the doctrine of those who are 
known as Unitarians. The doctrine of the Trinity is 
more fully set forth in the following terms : " There is 
but one living and true God, everlasting, without body 
or parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, the 
Maker and Preserver of all things, visible and invis- 
ible. And in unity of this Godhead there are three 
persons, of one substance, power, and eternity — the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." (See Article 
I, of Eeligion, in the Discipline.) 

The doctrine of the Trinity is full of mystery ; but 
so is the doctrine of our own existence. It is a doc- 
trine which will prove increasingly interesting to you 
as you make progress in the life of godliness upon 
which you are entering. The terms Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost are terms which will reveal to you a full- 
ness, a richness, a sweetness, and a beauty in the 
divine nature which would not be suggested to you by 
the comprehensive term of God. The ideas associated 
with these terms will be sources of encouragement, in- 
spiration, and joy to you in your efforts to realize the 
goodness of God. 



24 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



dhkptef IV. 



THE FALL OF MAN, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES, 
the first chapter and twenty-seventh verse of 



Genesis it is said : ' ' God created man in his own 
image ; in the image of God created he him." By 
this we are not to understand that man, physically 
considered, was created in the image of God ; for there 
can not be any likeness between a human body and 
an invisible spirit, such as God is. What is meant is 
that man was created with a spiritual as well as a 
physical nature, and that he was spiritually pure, like 
God, having no other emotions, dispositions, thoughts, 
aims, or purposes than such as were in perfect har- 
mony with the divine mind. 

In the second chapter of Genesis we have an ac- 
count of the delightful circumstances by which he was 
surrounded, and of the unobstructed and blissful in- 
tercourse which he was permitted to enjoy with his 
Creator. In the same chapter we have an account of 
a command which was given to him by the Almighty, 
with the understanding that the observance of it would 
* insure to him a continuation of life, while the viola- 
tion of it would be followed by death. 

In the third chapter we have the sad history of the 
violation of this command, and of the change which 




THE FALL OF MAN. 



25 



at once took place in the feelings of the man in his 
relations to God and in the circumstances of his life. 
So soon as the deed had been done he became con- 
scious that the likeness which he had sustained to 
God was lost; and, overwhelmed with a sense of mor- 
tification and shame, he sought to hide himself from 
God. Called forth from his hiding-place, he was 
charged with his sin, and was condemned by the Al- 
mighty, and excluded from the paradise in which he 
had had his abode. 

He was thus, by his alienation from God, spirit- 
ually dead, and was destined soon, by the separation 
of his spirit from his body, to undergo physical, or 
natural, death. 

From this first man the whole human family has 
descended. What has been the effect of his sin upon 
the different branches and members of that family? 
It is affirmed by some persons that the descendants 
of Adam did not inherit any thing from him which 
deserves the name of depravity, or original sinfulness, 
or original sin. They say that it is true that men are 
capable of following or imitating Adam, in yielding 
to temptation and falling into sin, and that they are 
liable to do so, but that such following or imitating 
of him is the only thing which can, with any propri- 
ety, be called original sin. They deny that there is 
£tny thing in the nature of men, as the result of 
Adam's fall, which predisposes them to sin. 

This is not the view of the great majority of Chris- 
tians. The latter hold that the descendants of Adam 



2G 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



have inherited from hirn a corrupt nature, which con- 
tinually inclines them to sin. Their view is substan- 
tially that which is set forth in the Seventh Article 
of Religion as found in the Methodist Discipline, in 
these words : ' ' Original sin standeth not in the fol- 
lowing of Adam (as the Pelagians do vainly talk), 
but it is the corruption of the nature of every man 
that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, 
whereby man is very far gone from original righteous- 
ness, and of his own nature inclined to evil, and that 
continually." 

This is the doctrine which is taught in the Sacred 
Scriptures. From them we learn that the first chil- 
dren that were born to Adam were born to him after 
he had sinned and lost his original righteousness, and 
that, consequently, they were born in a state of sin. 
What was true of them has been true of all who have 
descended from them; they have all come into the 
world in a state of sin. The Psalmist says, " Behold, 
I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother 
conceive me" (Psa. li, 5); and, "Who," says Job, 
"can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" (Job 
xiv, 4.) Hence the Apostle Paul, in speaking on 
this subject, says, "The natural man receiveth nut 
the things of the Spirit of God." (1 Cor. ii, 14.) 
And again, "The carnal mind" — by which he means 
the natural mind, or the mind with which a man is 
born into the world — " is enmity against God ; for it 
is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can 
be." (Rom. viii, 7.) 



THE FALL OF MAN. 



27 



Such is the condition of the human family ; not 
that the descendants of Adam sinned in him, or that 
they are to be held responsible for his sin, but that, 
in consequence of his sin, they have come into the 
world with a corrupt nature and an inclination to evil, 
and are thus " very far gone from original righteous- 
ness." If this be true, then sinning is natural to men, 
and those persons err who say that "it is possible for 
men, provided they fully employ the powers and facul- 
ties with which they are endowed, to live without sin." 
In order that any man shall live without sin, he must 
have divine aid. " The condition of man after the 
fall of Adam is such that he can not turn and pre- 
pare himself, by his own natural strength and works, to 
faith and calling upon God; wherefore we have no 
power to do good works, pleasant and acceptable to 
God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing 
us that w T e may have a good will, and working with 
us, when we have that good will." (See Eighth Ar- 
ticle of Religion in the Discipline.) By the clause, 
" without the grace of God by Christ preventing us" 
is meant, without the grace of God by Christ going 
before and helping us; the original meaning of the 
term " preventing" having been that of going before. 

In proof of the correctness of this view of man's 
condition, we find, in Rom. v, 6, that Paul speaks of 
man as being, in his natural state, " without strength." 
In 2 Cor. v, 14, it is said that men " were all dead." 
In Eph. ii, 1, the phrase " dead in trespasses and 
sins " is used with regard to the natural man. If this 



28 ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 

be true, that we were " without strength" — moral 
strength, of course — nay, much more, were even 
"dead," morally, it could not be possible for us to 
return, without divine aid, to a state of purity. 

How sad our condition ! how deplorable ! Would 
God pity us ? Would he come to us in mercy ? Would 
he afford us help ? Would he provide a way of escape 
for us? 



THE ATONEMENT. 



29 



THE ATONEMENT. 

THE questions asked in the conclusion of the last 
chapter can be answered in the affirmative. The 
goodness of God is too great to admit of his ever hav- 
ing had any other than the most tender and loving 
feelings toward a race of beings who had originally 
borne his own likeness and image, how far soever gone 
they might be from their original righteousness. He 
desired that they should live, and not that they should 
die; for he takes " no pleasure," as he himself has 
declared, " in the death of him that dieth." (Ezek. 
xviii, 32.) 

How w T as he to afford the needed help ? How was 
he to provide the way of escape? By means of an 
atonement; that is, a satisfaction for the sins of men. 
An atonement could be made only by means of a sub- 
stitute, who would be able to stand in the place of 
the sinners, under the violated law, and receive the 
strokes from it which were due to the sinners them- 
selves. 

Where could such a substitute be found? Not 
among the corrupt descendants of Adam ; for no man 
could act as a substitute for others who was in need 
of a substitute for himself. One who was without 



30 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



corruption of nature must be selected. Such a sub- 
stitute could not be found on earth, but only in 
heaven. 

But such a substitute must be not only without 
need of an atonement for himself, but, in fact, supe- 
rior to the law to which he would be compelled to 
submit in making atonement for others, so that, though 
its heaviest strokes might fall upon him, he could not 
be destroyed by them. 

Who w T as qualified for such a position ? 

The Son of God, and he only. 

But the Son of God was of an invisible, spiritual 
nature, and, therefore, could not, without appearing 
in the flesh, put himself in man's place. This he did. 
He "was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we 
beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of 
the Father), full of grace and truth." (John i, 14.) 
He said himself, " A body hast thou prepared me." 
(Heb. x, 5.) The Son of God, thus manifested in 
the flesh, w^as he who was known as Jesus the Christ. 
(John xx, 31.) 

A full account of all the facts and circumstances 
attending his incarnation — that is, his making himself 
manifest in the flesh by his reception of the body pre- 
pared for him — is given in the first and second chap- 
ters of the Gospel of Luke. 

Thus prepared with a body, he was able to suffer 
and to die for mankind. The Apostle Paul, in speak- 
ing of these important events, says, "Forasmuch, 
then, as the children " — that is, human beings, the 



THE ATONEMENT. 



31 



descendants of fallen Adam, the alienated children 
of God — " forasmuch, then, as the children are par- 
takers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise 
took part of the same ; that he, through death, might 
destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the 
devil, and deliver them who through fear of death 
were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Heb. 
ii, 14, 15.) 

Thus prepared, he did suffer, did die. He suffered 
for mankind, died for mankind. He " bore our 
sins" — that is, he endured the sufferings which were 
due to us on account of our sins — " in his own body 
on the tree." (1 Pet. ii, 24.) He " suffered for sins, 
the just for the unjust." (1 Pet. hi, 18.) He "was 
delivered for our offenses." (Rom. iv, 25.) For God 
" hath made him, who knew no sin, to be sin" — that 
is, a sin-offering — "for us, that we might be made the 
righteousness of God in him." (2 Cor. v, 21.) 

But, as the penalty due for the violation of the 
law was death, it was necessary that the atoner should 
show himself superior to death. This he did by rising 
from the dead, after having offered his life a ransom 
on the cross for the lives of men. The pains of death 
were "loosed;" "because," as the Apostle Peter de- 
clares, "it was not possible that he should be holden 
of it." (Acts ii, 24.) Without a knowledge of his 
resurrection we could have no assurance that a true 
and acceptable atonement had been made. With this 
knowledge, we are confident. " He was delivered," 
says the Apostle Paul, "for our offenses, and was 



32 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



raised again for our justification." (Rom. iv, 25.) 
And now, having finished the work which he came 
upon earth to do, it was necessary for him to return 
to heaven, there " to appear in the presence of God 
for us." (Heb. ix, 24.) And, accordingly, it is re- 
corded that, after having appeared at different times 
to his disciples, after his resurrection from the dead, 
' ' he was received up into heaven, and sat on the 
right-hand of God" (Mark xvi, 19), where "he is 
able also to save them to the uttermost that come 
unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make inter- 
cession for them " (Heb. vii, 25) ; and whence he him- 
self declared he would come again "in the glory of his 
Father, with his angels, and" that "then he shall 
reward every man according to his works." (Matt, 
xvi, 27.) In ascending into heaven, he did not ascend 
in his separate divine nature. He took with him his 
humanity. He ascended as the Son of God and the 
Son of man — as the God-man, the Christ, the Savior 
of the world. And the exalted and honorable position 
which he there occupies assures us of the favor which 
he has with the Father, as our friend ; and it should 
kindle in us emotions of joy on account of the salva- 
tion which is possible to us "through the redemption 
that is in" him. (Rom.- iii, 24.) 

These precious doctrines are substantially declared 
in the Second and Third Articles of Religion, as found 
in the Discipline. The Second Article is in these 
words: "The Son, who is the Word of the Father, 
the very and eternal God, of one substance with the 



THE ATONEMENT. 



33 



Father, took man's nature in the womb of the blessed 
virgin ; so that two whole and perfect natures — that 
is to say, the Godhead and manhood — were joined to- 
gether in one person, never to be divided, whereof is 
one Christ, very God and very man, who truly suffered, 
was crucified, dead and buried, to reconcile his Father 
to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, 
but also for the actual sins of men." The Third Ar- 
ticle is in these words: "Christ did truly rise again 
from the dead, and took again his body, with all 
things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature, 
wherewith he ascended into heaven, and there sitteth 
until he return to judge all men at the last day." 
Let us praise God for his goodness to the children of 
men. Let us magnify the name of Jesus Christ our 
Savior, and rejoice that he hath redeemed us, and 
that he ever liveth to make intercession for us. 

3 



34 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



dl(kptef VI. 



THE EXTENT OF THE ATONEMENT, AND THE 
CONDITION OF SALVATION. 

^ HEIST, we have seen, died for men. Did he die 



for all men, or for some only ? If he died for 
all men, will all be saved, without regard to their 
own dispositions or acts? And if any thing on their 
part is necessary, in order that they may enter into 
the enjoyment of the benefits of Christ's death, what 
is it? 

Formerly it was not at all uncommon to hear the 
doctrine taught that Christ did not die for all men, 
or at least that salvation was not possible for all men. 
It was held that God had "chosen some men to 
eternal life" and had "passed by and foreordained 
the rest to dishonor and wrath." This doctrine was 
very generally believed by Baptists, Presbyterians, 
and Congregationalists, and was more or less clearly 
preached in most of their pulpits. A great change 
has taken place in the last fifty years. Most of the 
members and many of the ministers of these denomi- 
nations entertain more liberal views on this subject ; 
and, in so far as the doctrine referred to is preached 
at all, it is generally preached in a modified form. It 
has not been wholly given up, however. It is still 




THE EXTENT OF THE ATONEMENT. 35 

taught in many of the doctrinal writings and in some 
of the theological schools of the United States and of 
other countries, and from time to time efforts are 
made to render it acceptable to the people. 

The history of this doctrine shows it to have been 
a stumbling-block in the way of many to whom it was 
preached. It presented the character of God in an 
unattractive light. It made him seem to be a mere 
arbitrary sovereign, and not the just and righteous 
God that he has declared himself to be. No man 
could know, when listening to the Gospel, and when 
urged to accept of Christ as his Savior, that he him- 
self was not one of those that had been " passed by 
and foreordained to dishonor and wrath." 

The Sacred Scriptures plainly teach that God is 
no respecter of persons. Paul says that it is God's 
will that all men should be saved. (1 Tim. ii, 4.) 
John, in speaking of Christ, says, "And he is the 
propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but 
also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John ii, 2.) 
Christ himself said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor 
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matt, 
xi, 28.) Just before his ascension into heaven he said 
to his disciples, " Go ye into all the world, and 
preach the Gospel to every creature." (Mark xvi, 15.) 
And afterwards, in speaking through John, he said : 
" The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him 
that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst 
come ; and whosoever will, let him take of the water of 
life freely." (Kev. xxii, 17.) We learn from these 



36 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



and many similar passages of Scripture that God has 
not " passed by" any person, but has included all men 
in the provision which he has made by the death of 
Christ for the salvation of men. 

Christ "died for all" (2 Cor. v, 15.) But will 
all for whom Christ died be saved ? It is the doc- 
trine of Universalists that all will be saved, without 
regard to any thing that they may do or may fail to 
do. This doctrine is a very agreeable one to persons 
of an ungodly life ; but it is not in accordance with 
the teachings of the Sacred Scriptures, which every- 
where recognize men as intelligent, responsible beings, 
able to understand the worth of that which is offered 
to them, and to accept or reject it, and, therefore, not 
able to be saved without their own consent. Salva- 
tion has been provided for all men, and is freely offered 
to all men ; and all may be saved if they will. But 
God does not force the precious boon upon any one. 
Salvation implies that the person saved has been 
brought into a state of mind in harmony with the 
mind of God. But it is impossible that any one could 
be brought into this state of mind without having ac- 
cepted what God, in his goodness, has offered to 
him ; and hence it is impossible that any such person 
could be saved. For God to save a man against the 
man's own will would be to destroy the man's respon- 
sibility in the very act of saving him, and thus to 
cause him to cease to be, in the truest and highest 
sense of the term, a man. Such an act would be like 
that of trying to save a fine china vase from a house 



THE EXTENT OF THE ATONEMENT. 37 



which was on fire by casting it out of a fourth-story 
window on to a hard pavement below. The frag- 
ments would remain, but the vase itself would have 
been destroyed in the act of trying to save it. 

Salvation is offered to men ; but upon what terms ? 
In what way are they to make it their own ? Roman 
Catholics and some others seem to regard it as a thing 
to be purchased, and they rely upon their works of 
piety as the price to be paid for it. But Christ and 
the apostles did not so teach. Christ said, " God so 
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, 
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but 
have everlasting life." (John iii, 16.) And again: 
" He that believeth on him is not condemned; but he 
that believeth not is condemned already, because he 
hath not believed in the name of the only begotten 
Son of God." (John iii, 18.) The Apostle Paul 
says : " By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh 
be justified in his sight ; for by the law T is the knowl- 
edge of sin. But now the righteousness of God with- 
out the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law 
and the prophets; even the righteousness of God, 
which is, by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon 
all them that believe: for there is no difference ; for 
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God : 
being justified freely by his grace, through the re- 
demption that is in Christ Jesus : Whom God hath 
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his 
blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission 
of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God : 



38 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



to declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness ; that 
he might be just, and the justifier of him which be- 
lieveth in Jesus. Where is boasting then ? It is ex- 
cluded. By what law ? of works ? Nay, but by the 
law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a man is 
justified by faith without the deeds of the law." (Rom. 
hi, 20-280 

This doctrine is expressed in the Ninth Article of 
Religion in these words: " We are accounted right- 
eous before God only for the merit of our Lord and 
Savior Jesus Christ by faith, and not for our own 
works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified 
by faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very 
full of comfort." 

Yes, indeed, it is a most wholesome doctrine, and 
very full of comfort ; for, if the condition of our jus- 
tification were works of any kind, or sufferings, or 
any thing but faith, many persons would find it im- 
possible to be saved, since many would find it impos- 
sible to comply with the condition. But all can 
believe, and, therefore, all can be saved. Thank God 
that we are not required to make an atonement for 
ourselves, nor to purchase the atonement which Christ 
has made for us ; but that all that we are required to 
do, all that any soul on earth is required to do, in 
order to find acceptance with God, is to have faith in 
the Lord Jesus Christ. 



THE HOLY GHOST AND HIS WOEK. 



39 



Chapter- VII. 

THE HOLY GHOST AND HIS WORK. 
T has already been shown that the Holy Ghost is 



one of the persons in the unity of the Godhead, 
and therefore divine. The Scriptures teach us that, 
in coming to men, he proceeds from the Father and 
the Son. Christ, in speaking of the communication 
of the Holy Ghost, said : " But the Comforter, which 
is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my 
name, he shall teach you all things." (John xiv, 26.) 
And then again, shortly afterwards: "But when the 
Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from 
the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth 
from the Father" (John xv, 26.) The doctrine of 
the procession, as it is called, and of the divinity, of 
the Holy Ghost, as found in the Sacred Scriptures, 
is set forth in the Fourth Article of Religion in the 
following words: " The Holy Ghost, proceeding from 
the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty, 
and glory with the Father and the Son, very and 
eternal God." 

The Holy Ghost, then, which is the Divine Spirit, 
is sent forth by the Father and the Son — is sent into 
the world to aid in effecting the salvation of men. He 
comes to complete the work which was begun by the 




40 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



Father in giving the Son, and which was continued by 
the Son in the offering which he made of his own body 
on the cross for the sins of men. 

The work of the Holy Ghost is both that of a 
Reprover and that of a Comforter. It is that of a 
Reprover to the world ; it is that of a Comforter to 
believers in Christ. He reproves " the world of sin, 
and of righteousness, and of judgment;" he comforts 
believers by giving to them personal evidence of their 
acceptance with God. He does the work of reproving 
from without, by making impressions upon the minds 
and hearts of those reproved ; he does the work of 
comforting from within, by establishing relations of 
fellowship and communion with the spirits of those 
comforted. With respect to the latter the Apostle 
Paul speaks of the Holy Ghost as making their bodies 
his abode. (1 Cor. hi, 16, and vi, 19.) He also 
speaks of the comforting influences which he affords 
them in so doing. " For ye have not," says the apostle, 
' ■ received the spirit of bondage again to fear ; but ye 
have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, 
Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with 
our spirit, that we are the children of God." (Rom. 
viii, 15, 16.) 

In thus comforting believers with the assurance of 
their acceptance with God, the Holy Ghost, at the 
same time, works a change in their affections, disposi- 
tions, desires, and aspirations, suitable to their changed 
relations towards God. He begets in them a spirit of 
" love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, 



THE HOLY GHOST AND HIS WORK. 41 

faith, meekness, temperance 7 ' (Gal. v, 22, 23); 
so that they are new creatures in Christ Jesus 
(2 Cor. v, 17), having the mind of Christ, and, so, 
loving God and all that he has taught men to love — 
his Word, his people, his house, his cause ; and hating 
all that he has taught them to hate. The change 
which is thus wrought is great and worthy of the 
name which Christ gave to it when conversing with 
Mcodemus— that of a new birth. (John hi, 1-8.) 

Not unfrequently persons who have believed are 
troubled because they can not have some sensible 
sign of the presence of the Spirit of God witnessing 
with their spirits that they are the children of God. 
They would like to see the Spirit, hear the Spirit, or 
feel the Spirit, as they would see, hear, or feel any 
material object. They err in looking for a manifesta- 
tion of the Spirit of God in such a way. Christ said, 
" The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou nearest 
the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh 
and whither it goeth : so is every one that is born of 
the Spirit." (John iii, 8.) If a believer has become 
a new creature in Christ, so that he feels an impulse 
in his heart to call God Father, loves holiness for its 
own sake, and receives with pleasure the law of the 
Lord, he may rest satisfied that he has received the 
Spirit of God. Love to God as a Father, love of 
holiness, and cheerful obedience to the precepts of 
God's Word are not natural to man, " because," as 
the Apostle Paul says, "the carnal mind" — that is, 
the natural mind — "is enmity against God; for it is 



42 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can 
be" (Rom. viii, 7); and no power but that of the 
Spirit of God can do away with this spirit of enmity 
to God and of insubjection to the law of God. Who- 
ever, therefore, has in his own experience the un- 
doubted fruit of the Spirit of God has a right to say 
that he has received the Spirit of God. By nature 
no man is in harmony with God. When a man finds 
in his soul emotions of filial affection toward God, a 
love of the holiness of God's character and will, and 
a sincere pleasure in living to the honor and glory of 
God, he may be sure that old things have passed 
away and that all things have become new. (2 Cor. 
v, 17.) 

With those who continue to believe, and whose 
faith is continually manifested by their lives and 
works, the Holy Ghost continues to abide, purifying 
their affections and sanctifying their natures more and 
more, and thus making them more and more like 
God. They thus become, as the Apostle Paul says, 
temples of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor. vi, 19); in other 
words, temples of God. (1 Cor. hi, 16.) 

We are taught, by what has been said, that, from 
the time when we turn to Christ and accept him as our 
Redeemer and Savior, we cease to be left to ourselves ; 
that from that time we have the light, the wisdom, 
and the sanctifying and comforting influences of the 
Holy Ghost. Sweet thought ! Precious doctrine ! 

And, with this doctrine, we have another, not less 
full of comfort, connected with it, and growing out 



THE HOLY GHOST AND HIS WORK. 43 

of it. It is this, that, in consequence of the change 
which has thus taken place in our relations and dispo- 
sitions, we shall be permitted to participate in all the 
blessedness and glory that pertain to the Godhead ; 
for the Apostle Paul, in speaking of the fact of our 
adoption into the family of God, says, 4 'And if chil- 
dren, then heirs ; heirs of God, and joint heirs with 
Christ ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may 
be also glorified together. For I reckon that the suffer- 
ings of this present time are not worthy to be com- 
pared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." 
(Rom. viii, 17, 18.) 

God be praised for the gift and work of the Holy 
Ghost ! 



44 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



Cllkptef VIII. 

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
HE Twelfth Article of Religion in the Discipline 



is in these words : " Not every sin willingly com- 
mitted after justification is the sin against the Holy 
Ghost, and unpardonable; wherefore the grant of re- 
pentance is not to be denied to such as fall into sin 
after justification. After we have received the Holy 
Ghost we may depart from grace given, and fall into 
sin, and by the grace of God rise again and amend 
our lives. And, therefore, they are to be condemned 
who say they can no more sin as long as they live 
here, or deny the place of forgiveness to such as truly 
repent." 

In condemning those who say that it is impossible 
for a man to sin after he has been justified, this Article 
puts us on our guard against false security. He who 
thinks that he is out of the reach of danger, at any 
time while still in an enemy's country, is in the great- 
est danger. The Scriptures })lainly teach us that sin 
is possible to us as long as we are on this side of 
the grave. The Apostle Paul, in writing to Timothy, 
uses these words: "Holding faith, and a good con- 
science; which some having put away, concerning 
faith have made shipwreck." (1 Tim. i, 19.) He 




THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 



45 



who, having had a good conscience, has put it away, 
and, having had faith, has made shipwreck of it, has 
undoubtedly sinned. In Ezekiel we have the Lord 
speaking by the mouth of the prophet of a ■ 6 right- 
eous man" that " turneth away from his righteous- 
ness, and committeth iniquity " (Ezek. xviii, 26) ; and 
in Heb. iii, 12, w T e have these words: "Take heed, 
brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of 
unbelief in departing from the living God." These 
passages teach us that it is possible for a man who is 
righteous to-day to be unrighteous to-morrow ; for 
him who has faith to-day to have "an evil heart of 
unbelief" and to "depart from the living God" to- 
morrow. 

But while we are taught the possibility of a man's 
turning away from God, and sinning, after he has 
received the Holy Ghost, we are not taught that 
there is any necessity for his doing so. Much more 
are we not taught, as some hold, that a man is a sin- 
ner still, even after he has received the regenerating 
power of the Holy Spirit, and that he must con- 
tinue to be a sinner as long as he lives; in other 
words, that there is no possibility of a man's living 
without sin. The salvation which such persons teach 
is a salvation from the punishment which is due to 
sin, but not a salvation from sin itself; which is a 
strange doctrine to be preached in the face of all that 
Christ and the apostles have said about righteousness 
in believers. "Be ye, therefore," said Christ, " per- 
fect, even as your Father which is in heaven is 



46 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



perfect." (Matt, v, 48.) " What shall we say, then ?" 
says the Apostle Paul. " Shall we continue in sin, 
that grace may abound ? God forbid. How shall we, 
that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? . . . 
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, 
that the body of sin might be destroyed, that hence- 
forth we should not serve sin." (Bom. vi, 1, 2, 6.) 

It being God's will to have us live above sin, who- 
ever, after having been justified, falls again into sin, 
brings himself again under condemnation ; and whoever 
dies in this state will be lost. "For," says the writer 
of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in addressing those 
who were in Christ, " if the word spoken by angels 
was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedi- 
ence received a just recompense of reward ; how shall 
we escape " — we who are now in Christ — 1 ' if we neg- 
lect so great salvation?" (Heb. ii, 2, 3.) 

But this Article teaches that God is merciful even 
to backsliders, if they repent. The Scriptures teach 
the same. God himself has thus spoken to back- 
sliders : "Keturn, ye backsliding children, and I will 
heal your backslidings." (Jer. hi, 22.) 

It should be the aim of every Christian to resist 
temptation, and not to run any unnecessary risks ; but 
to try to live as acceptably to God as possible. This 
can be done only by the most constant and zealous 
efforts to be obedient to the divine will, as well as to 
be filled with emotions of love to God. For " although 
good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow 
after justification, can not put away our sins, and 



THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 



47 



endure the severity of God's judgments, yet are they 
pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and spring 
out of a true and lively faith, insomuch that by them 
a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree is * 
discerned by its fruit." (Article X of Religion.) 
This is in accordance with what the Apostle James 
has said. 4 4 Even so," says this apostle, " faith, if it 
hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man 
may say, Thou hast faith and I have works : show 
me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee 
my faith by my works. . . . For as the body with- 
out the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead 
also r (James ii, 17, 18, 26.) 

Roman Catholics entertain a very dangerous error 
upon the subject of good works. They hold that a 
Christian can do all that he is divinely required to do, 
and more, and that for all that he may chance to do in 
excess of the divine requirement he may lay claim to 
some special favor at the hands of God. This doc- 
trine is condemned in the Eleventh Article of Religion 
in these words : " Voluntary works — besides, over and 
above God's commandments — which are called works 
of supererogation, can not be taught without arro- 
gancy and impiety. For by them men do declare 
that they do not only render unto God as much as 
they are bound to do, but that they do more for his 
sake than of bounden duty is required : whereas Christ 
saith plainly, ' When ye have done all that is com- 
manded you, say, We are unprofitable servants.' 
(Luke xvii, 10.)" 



48 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



dhaptef IX. 



THE FUTURE STATE. 



STATURAL death, or the death of the body, is a 



separation of the soul from the body. Some 
persons hold that when this takes place the soul be- 
gins a sleep which is to be terminated only when the 
resurrection of the body shall take place. The Scrip- 
tures, on the contrary, teach us that the soul is still 
aliye and awake after its separation from the body. 
When Stephen was stoned, he called upon the Lord, 
saying, " Lord Jesus, reeeiye my spirit." (Acts vii, 59.) 
The Apostle Paul speaks in this manner: " Therefore, 
we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at 
home in the body we are absent from the Lord : for we 
walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, 
and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to 
be present with the Lord." (2 Cor. y, 6, 7.) In the 
Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus we haye these 
words : ' £ And it came to pass that the beggar died , 
and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom : 
the rich man also died, and was buried ; and in hell 
he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth 
Abraham afar off*, and Lazarus in his bosom." (Luke 
xyi, 22, 23.) From these passages we learn that the 
souls of the dead do not remain here, in a state of 




THE FUTURE STATE. 



49 



unconsciousness, but that they go, the good to be 
"present with the Lord," and the bad to suffer 
" torments." 

Romanists teach that there is a place where those 
whose sins have not been fully expiated here suffer 
for a time, after death, before being permitted to 
enter into perfect peace and perfect rest. This place 
they call purgatory. They hold that the length of 
time during which those who are consigned to this 
place are required to stay there may be shortened 
by the prayers and the good works of their pious 
friends who remain on earth. Hence we hear of 
masses being offered for the souls that are in purga- 
tory. The passages of Scripture already quoted are 
opposed to this doctrine : so are many others ; while 
it has none in its favor. Hence, we truly say of it, 
in the Fourteenth Article of Religion: "The Romish 
doctrine concerning purgatory ... is a fond thing, 
vainly invented, and grounded upon no warrant of 
Scripture, but repugnant to the Word of God." 

A large number of Universalists, while not teach- 
ing the doctrine of purgatory as held by Romanists, 
teach a doctrine very similar to it. Not being able 
to deny that many sinners die impenitent, and that 
the Scriptures teach that impenitent sinners must be 
punished, they hold that such are punished after 
death, but that the jDunishment which they receive 
will not be eternal, and that, in some way, they will 
eventually be restored to the favor of God, and will 
be permitted to enter into the state of rest and peace 

4 



50 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



and blessedness which is the inheritance of the pure 
and the holy. These are called Restorationists. Their 
doctrine has no better foundation than that of Eo- 
manists. It is based, not upon the utterances of the 
Sacred Scriptures, but upon the desires and fancies of 
men. Let no one deceive himself. This life, accord- 
ing to the Scriptures, is the time of trial and proba- 
tion. All that we are taught to do, in order to gain 
entrance into heaven, we are taught to do now and 
here. There will be no change in the character and 
relations of any one after death. Those who die 
righteous will continue righteous ; and those who die 
unrighteous will continue unrighteous. 

The separation of the souls of men from their bod- 
ies is not to continue forever. There is to be a resur- 
rection of the dead, and a reunion of the souls and 
bodies of men. The doctrine of the resurrection was 
taught by Christ before his death. It was exemplified 
by him afterwards. He rose from the dead. The 
doctrine is discussed at length by the Apostle Paul in 
the fifteenth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinth- 
ians. He therein speaks of Christ as " the first fruits 
of them that slept," and says that since Christ is risen 
all others will rise. When the general resurrection of 
the dead will take place, no man can tell. This we 
are told, however, " that the last enemy that shall 
be destroyed is death." In the act of raising us 
from the dead God will make a wonderful change in 
our bodies. The bodies with which we terminate the 
present life are "natural bodies;" those with wdiich 



THE FUTUEE STATE. 



51 



we shall rise will be "spiritual bodies," and thus be 
suitable to be inhabited by our spirits, in the changed 
state in which we shall then have our existence. 

After the resurrection there will be a judgment. 
The declaration found in the Third Article of Relig- 
ion, that Jesus Christ, who now sits at the right-hand 
of Gocl, will "return to judge all men at the last 
day," has already been quoted. This declaration is 
confirmed by the Sacred Scriptures. Paul, in his ser- 
mon at Athens, declared that God " hath appointed a 
day, in the which he will judge the world in right- 
eousness, by that man whom he hath ordained ;" that 
is, by Jesus Christ. (Acts xvii, 31.) Again, in 
writing to the Eomans, he says: "We shall all stand 
before the judgment-seat of Christ." (Rom. xiv, 10.) 
John says: "And I saw a great white throne, and 
him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and 
the heaven fled away ; and there was found no place 
for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand 
before God ; and the books were opened ; and another 
book was opened, which is the book of life: and the 
dead were judged out of those things which were writ- 
ten in the books, according to their works." (Rev. 
xx, 11, 12.) 

That day will be a momentous one. A description 
of it was given by Christ himself while he was on 
earth. All nations shall be gathered before the 
Judge. The good shall be separated from the bad, 
and placed on his right hand, while the bad shall be 
placed on his left. "Then shall the king say unto 



52 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my 
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for yon from 
the foundation of the world. . . . Then shall he say 
also unto them on the left hand, Dej)art from me, ye 
cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil 
and his angels. . . . And these shall go away into 
everlasting punishment : but the righteous into life 
eternal." (Matt, xxv, 34, 41, 46.) 

These declarations were made by him who himself 
is to be judge. They are most weighty, and should 
receive the most thoughtful and prayerful considera- 
tion of all who read them or hear of them. Shall Ave 
be prepared for that day? Let us look to God for 
help, so that, when the day shall come, it may not be 
said to us, " Depart from me, ye cursed," but, " Come, 
ye blessed of my Father." 



THE CHURCH. 



53 



THE CHURCH. 

THE Church is not an ordinary organization. It 
was instituted, not by men, but by God. It is 
denned in the Thirteenth Article of Religion in the 
following language : 4 4 The visible Church of Christ is a 
congregation of faithful men, in which the pure Word 
of God is preached, and the sacraments duly admin- 
istered, according to Christ's ordinance, in all those 
things that of necessity are requisite to the same." 

" A congregation of faithful men" is a congrega- 
tion of believers in Christ. By bringing the believers 
together into one organization, it is the design of God 
to separate and distinguish them from the w T orld, and 
thus to enable them the better to cultivate and exem- 
plify the principles of righteousness. 

The members of the Church are not all equally 
intelligent in spiritual things, nor equally zealous and 
faithful. Some are highly appreciative and earnest ; 
others less so. Some are very watchful and prayerful ; 
others less so. Some are purer in their lives than 
others. But the Church, as a body, has ever been 
better than the world. If this were not so, then the 
words of Christ to the disciples, wherein he declared 
that they were "the light of the world" and "the 
salt of the earth," would be unmeaning. 



54 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



It is not uncommon in this day to hear, not only 
the ungodly, but even some persons who profess a 
high degree of godliness, speak lightly of the Church, 
and put forth the idea that one can serve God as well 
out of it as in it. Such persons forget that all the 
religious light which they have received has come to 
them through the Church, and that the Church is the 
only agency that is doing any thing worthy of notice 
toward ameliorating the condition of mankind. It is 
as true in this day as it was in the days of Christ that 
the Church is " the light of the world," " the salt of 
the earth." It ought not, therefore, to be spoken of 
in any other terms than those of the highest respect. 
And whoever is sincerely trying to do God's will is out 
of his proper place if he is out of the Church ; pre- 
cisely as that one is who, if a member of it, is not 
trying to do God's will. 

Some persons have held the view that in such an 
organization as the Church — an organization in which 
the bond of union among its members is love — the 
members ought not to retain any separate rights of 
property, but that their temporal possessions ought all 
to be held in common. Such a state of things did 
exist for a short time in the early days of Christianity, 
among the saints in Jerusalem. An account of it 
is given in the second, the fourth, and the fifth chap- 
ters of the Acts of the Apostles. It is to be observed, 
however, that those who entered into this arrange- 
ment did not do so from any Scriptural or apostolic 
requirement, but of their own free wills. There was 



THE CHURCH. 



55 



no compulsion in the case. Every disciple was at lib- 
erty to contribute his property to the common fund, or 
to retain it in his own possession, as he saw proper. 
And the example thus set by the saints in Jerusalem, 
purely voluntary, as it was. was not followed by the 
saints elsewhere ; and very soon the rights of private 
property were resumed, even in Jerusalem itself. It 
was with the view of meeting and opposing this doc- 
trine of the obligation or necessity of a community of 
goods in the Christian Church that the Twenty-fourth 
Article of Keligion was adopted. That Article is in 
these words : ' ' The riches and goods of Christians are 
not common, as touching the right, title, and posses- 
sion of the same, as some do falsely boast. Notwith- 
standing, every man ought, of such things as he pos- 
sesseth, liberally to give alms to the poor, according to 
his ability." 

The relation of Christians to civil governments 
has often given rise to serious discussions. Romanists 
generally — or, at least, a very large party in the Ro- 
mish Church — teach that the government of the 
Church is supreme, and that loyalty to the pope of 
Rome is of higher obligation than loyalty to any civil 
authority. The effect of this doctrine, if generally 
accepted, would be to destroy all purely temporal gov- 
ernments. The Church is a government ; but it is a 
spiritual government, and was not designed to take 
the place of temporal governments. Both Christ and 
the apostles recognized obedience to the latter as 
proper in temporal matters. (See Luke xx, 22-25 ; 



56 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



and Rom. xiii, 1-7.) The true doctrine on this sub- 
ject is set forth in the Twenty-third Article of Relig- 
ion, and in an explanatory note under it. The Article 
is for citizens of the United States, and is in these 
words: "The President, the Congress, the General 
Assemblies, the governors, and the councils of State, 
as the delegates of the people, are the rulers of the United 
States of America, according to the division of power 
made to them by the Constitution of the United 
States, and by the constitutions of their respective 
States. And the said States are a sovereign aDd in- 
dependent nation, and ought not to be subject to any 
foreign jurisdiction." The explanatory foot-note de- 
clares it to be the duty of Christians generally "to be 
subject to the supreme authority of the country where 
they may reside, and to use all laudable means to 
enjoin obedience to the powers that be." 

In connection with this subject is one kindred to it. 
It is that of taking the oaths required by civil gov- 
ernments. On this subject the Twenty-fifth Article 
of Religion has this language: "As we confess that 
vain and rash swearing is forbidden Christian men 
by our Lord Jesus Christ and James his apostle ; so 
we judge that the Christian religion doth not prohibit, 
but that a man may swear when the magistrate re- 
quireth, in a cause of faith and charity, so that it be 
done according to the prophet's teaching, in justice, 
judgment, and truth." The prophet referred to here 
is Jeremiah. (See Jer. iv, 2.) 

The second clause in the statement of what the 



THE CHURCH. 



57 



Church is, declares that in it " the pure Word of God 
is preached." The Word of God was committed to 
the Church to be preserved and promulgated by it. 
This is a most important trust. (Rom. iii, 2.) It is 
God's will that the whole world shall have the benefit 
of the truths contained in that Word; and he has de- 
volved upon the Church the duty of seeing that his 
will is accomplished. This is to be done in part by 
the circulation of copies of the Bible throughout the 
world, but chiefly by means of public preaching. All 
that has been done thus far in this direction has been 
done by the Church. What remains to be done must 
be done, and will be done, by the same divinely ap- 
pointed instrumentality. 

The third clause in this definition of what consti- 
tutes the Church is, that in it " the sacraments" are 
"duly administered, according to Christ's ordinance, 
in all things that of necessity are requisite to the 
same." The Sixteenth Article of Religion defines the 
meaning of a sacrament; tells how many sacraments 
there are, and what are and what are not sacraments, 
and declares their uses and benefits in the follewing 
language: "Sacraments, ordained of Christ, are not 
only badges or tokens of Christian men's profession, 
but rather they are certain signs of grace and God's 
good will toward us, by the which he doth work in- 
visibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also 
strengthen and confirm, our faith in him. There are 
two sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the 
Gospel ; that is to say, baptism and the Supper of 



58 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



the Lord. Those five commonly called sacraments" — 
commonly called sacraments by Roman Catholics and 
such as imitate them — " that is to say, confirmation, 
penance, orders, matrimony, and extreme unction — 
are not to be counted for sacraments of the Gospel, 
being such as have partly grown out of the corrupt 
following of the apostles, and partly are states of life 
allowed in the Scriptures, but yet have not the like na- 
ture of baptism and the Lord's-supper, because they 
have not any visible sign or ceremony ordained of God. 
The sacraments were not ordained of Christ to be 
gazed upon, or to be carried about, but that we should 
duly use them. And in such only as worthily receive 
the same they have a wholesome effect or operation ; 
but they that receive them unworthily purchase to 
themselves condemnation, as St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 
xi, 29." 

Roman Catholics have not only given the name of 
sacraments to observances which have not the nature 
of sacraments, but have perverted the meaning and 
use of those that truly are sacraments. They have 
made them more than " badges or tokens of Christian 
men's profession" and "signs of grace and God's 
good will toward us." They have taught and do teach 
that the sacraments have a saving efficacy in them- 
selves. They raise up and carry about, in the sight 
of the people, the elements composing the Lord's- 
supper, in order that the people may look upon them 
as upon things possessiug some efficacious power in 
themselves. They also reserve them for the sick. All 



THE CHURCH. 



59 



this is without warrant of the Scriptures. Romanists 
are accustomed to offer public prayers, and to admin- 
ister the sacraments, in the Latin language, even 
w 7 here the people are wholly ignorant of the meanings 
of the words used. Concerning this custom the Fif- 
teenth Article of Religion has these words: " It is a 
thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God and the 
custom of the primitive Church to have public prayer 
in the Church, or to administer the sacraments, in a 
tongue not understood by the people." In proof of 
the truth of this declaration we turn to the fourteenth 
chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians, where 
the apostle uses these words: " Now, brethren, if I 
come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I 
profit, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, 
or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine ?" 
(Verse 6.) " So, likewise ye, except ye utter by the 
tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be 
known what is spoken? For ye shall speak into the 
air." (Verse 9.) "I thank my God, I speak with 
tongues more than ye all ; yet in the Church I had 
rather speak five words with my understanding, that 
by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thou- 
sand words in an unknown tongue." (Verses 18, 19.) 

Romanism teaches that its ministers, to whom it 
gives the title of priests, have the power to forgive 
sins ; also, that it is right to worship images and relics 
and to offer prayers to departed saints. These doc- 
trines are condemned by the Fourteenth Article of 
Religion in the following terms : " The Romish doctrine 



60 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



concerning purgatory" — already mentioned — " pardon, 
worshiping, and adoration, as well of images as of 
relics, and also invocation of saints, is a fond thing, 
vainly invented, and grounded upon no warrant of 
Scripture, but repugnant to the Word of God." In 
regard to the power of pardoning sins, it was well 
asked by one of old, ' Who can forgive sins but God 
alone?' (Luke v, 21.) God has nowhere delegated 
that power to any mere man ; while the worshiping of 
any object, or the praying to any being but God, is 
clearly condemned in the first and second of the Ten 
Commandments. (Exodus xx, 3, 4, 5.) 

Romanism forbids its ministers to marry. On this 
subject the Twenty-first Article of Religion says : 
"The ministers of Christ are not commanded by 
God's law either to vow the estate of single life or to 
abstain from marriage ; therefore, it is lawful for 
them, as for all other Christians, to marry at their 
own discretion, as they shall judge the same to serve 
best to godliness." In the early days of Christianity 
the ministers of the Gospel remained single, or took 
to themselves wives, as they thought best. Paul re- 
mained single. Peter, on the other hand, was mar- 
ried ; so were others. This is made plain by Paul's 
first letter to Timothy (iii, 2) ; also by his first epistle 
to the Corinthians. In the latter he says: "Have 
we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as 
other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and 
Cephas?" (ix, 5.) 

While, in regard to things taught and definitely 



THE CHTJKCH. 



61 



settled in God's Word, the Church has no authority 
to make any change, its power is not so restricted with 
regard to things not so settled ; as, for instance, with 
regard to rites and ceremonies. These are matters of 
minor importance, and concerning them it is said in 
the Twenty-second Article of Eeligion : " It is not 
necessary that rites and ceremonies should in all 
places be the same, or exactly alike ; for they have 
been always different, and may be changed according 
to the diversity of countries, times, and men's man- 
ners, so that nothing be ordained against God's Word." 
But it is added: ' ' Whosoever, through his private 
judgment, willingly and purposely doth openly break 
the rites and ceremonies of the Church to which he 
belongs, which are not repugnant to the Word of 
God, and are ordained and approved by common au- 
thority, ought to be rebuked openly, that others may 
fear to do the like, as one that offendeth against the 
common order of the Church, and woundeth the con- 
sciences of weak brethren. Every particular Church 
may ordain, change, or abolish rites and ceremonies, 
so that all things may be done to edification." 



62 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



Chkptef XI. 
BAPTISM— ITS MEANING. 
APTISM," says our Seventeenth Article of Re- 



' ligion, " is not only a sign of profession and 
mark of difference, whereby Christians are distin- 
guished from others that are not baptized, but it is 
also a sign of regeneration, or the new birth. The 
baptism of young children," it adds, "is to be retaiued 
in the Church." 

We notice, in the first place, the declaration that 
' ' baptism is a sign of profession and mark of differ- 
ence, w r hereby Christians are distinguished from others 
that are not baptized." 

In the days of the apostles all who professed faith in 
Christ, and took upon themselves the obligations of a 
life of godliness, were baptized, and no others, of adult 
age, w r ere regarded as entitled to the reception of the 
rite of baptism. What was true then has been true 
ever since ; baptism was then, and is this day, " a sign 
of profession and mark of difference, whereby Christians 
are distinguished from others that are not baptized." 
No branch of the Christian Church administers the 
rite of baptism to persons who are capable of under- 
standing the meaning of the ordinance, unless they 
make a profession of faith and a renunciation of the 




BAPTISM ITS MEANING. 



63 



world. The Methodist Church requires that a candi- 
date for baptism should respond affirmatively to the 
following questions before receiving the rite : 

"Dost thou renounce the devil and all his works, 
the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covet- 
ous desires of the same, and the carnal desires of the 
flesh, so that thou wilt not follow nor be led by them? 
Dost thou believe in God, the Father Almighty, 
Maker of heaven and earth ? and in Jesus Christ his 
only begotten Son our Lord? and that he was con- 
ceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary ? 
that he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, 
dead, and buried? that he rose again the third day? 
that he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right 
hand of God the Father Almighty, and from thence 
shall come again, at the end of the world, to judge 
the quick and the dead? And dost thou believe in 
the Holy Ghost? the holy catholic* Church? the 
communion of saints? the remission of sins? the res- 
urrection of the body, and everlasting life after death ?" 

Having responded affirmatively to these questions, 
the candidate for baptism is asked if he will be bap- 
tized in this faith. Having declared such to be his 
desire, he is asked if he will obediently keep God's 
holy will and commandments, and walk in the same 
all the days of his life. His response is, "I will en- 
deavor so to do, God being my helper." 

He then receives baptism as a sign of the profes- 
sion which he has made, and as a mark of the differ- 

* The universal Church. 



64 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



ence by which believers in Christ are distinguished 
from unbelievers. 

But we notice, in the second place, that baptism 
"is also a sign of regeneration, or the new birth." 
It is not regeneration, or the new birth itself; nor 
does the simple fact that one has received it secure to 
him that great change. It is simply a sign of the 
change. 

We have already seen that " regeneration, or the 
new birth," is the work of the Holy Spirit. This 
work of the Spirit is called, in the Sacred Scriptures, 
a washing, because by it the heart of the believer is 
cleansed. " According to his mercy," says the Apostle 
Paul, " he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, 
and renewing of the Holy Ghost." (Titus hi, 5.) 

This inward work, so important but unseen, re- 
quired some outward sign to indicate and represent it 
to the world. By what outward sign could a work 
of inward washing, inward cleansing, be so fitly rep- 
resented as by that of water, the element which is 
used for all outward washing, all outward cleansing? 
The water, therefore, that is used in baptism, while it 
does not effect any change in the spiritual condition 
of the person baptized, does, most beautifully, appro- 
priately and forcibly, signify the work which the 
Holy Spirit effects upon the heart of every one that 
is rightly disposed toward Jesus Christ as the Savior 
of the world. 

In proof that water baptism was designed to have 



BAPTISM ITS MEANING. 



65 



this meaning, we find that it is constantly mentioned 
in the Sacred Scriptures in connection with the com- 
munication of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist, 
the forerunner of Christ, said, when baptizing at the 
river Jordan, " I indeed baptize with water, . . . but 
he that cometh after me is mightier than I, . . . he 
shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost" (Matt, iii, 11.) 
And, as if to illustrate and render impressive the 
words of John, Jesus presented himself and received 
tuater baptism, and immediately afterward the Holy 
Ghost descended upon him in the likeness of a dove. 

These things took place at the beginning of Christ's 
ministry. At the end of it, when, after his crucifixion 
and burial and resurrection, he was about to ascend 
into heaven, he said to his disciples, 4 'John truly bap- 
tized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the 
Holy Ghost, not many days hence." (Acts i, 5.) 

Peter, on the day of Pentecost, said to the people, 
' 6 Repent and be baptized" — he meant, of course, 
with water — ' 6 every one of you, in the name of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye 
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 
ii, 38.) 

Philip w r as preaching at Samaria ; many believed, 
and were baptized with water; the apostles at Jerusa- 
lem heard the news, and sent Peter and John to Sa- 
maria, " who, when they were come down, prayed for 
them that they might receive the Holy Ghost; (for as 
yet he was fallen upon none of them ; only they were 
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid 

5 



66 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



they their hands on them, and they received the Holy 
Ghost." (Acts vih, 15-17.) 

When Saul of Tarsus, after the remarkable mani- 
festation of Christ to him on his way to Damascus, 
had been led into the city, the disciple Ananias was 
directed by the Lord to go to him. In obedience to 
the divine command, Ananias proceeded to the house 
where Saul was, and going in, ' ' and putting his hands 
on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that 
appeared unto thee in the way as thou earnest, hath 
sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be 
filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there 
fell from his eyes as it had been scales ; and he re- 
ceived sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized." 
(Acts ix, 17, 18.) 

Peter went to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile, 
at Csesarea, and preached Christ to the congregation 
there assembled. While he was preaching, ' ' the Holy 
Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. . . . 
Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that 
these should not be baptized, which have received the 
Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them 
to be baptized in the name of the Lord." (Acts 
x? 44-48.) 

Peter went from Csesarea up to Jerusalem. The 
brethren there were astonished and displeased when 
they learned that he had been at the house of Cor- 
nelius, a Gentile, and had communicated the benefits 
of the Gospel to him. In defending himself, Peter 
rehearsed the whole matter to them, saying in con- 



BAPTISM — ITS MEANING. 



67 



elusion, "As I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell 
on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remem- 
bered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John 
indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized 
with the Holy Ghost." (Acts xi, 15, 16.) 

Paul went to Ephesus, and found certain disciples 
there, and said unto them, "Have ye received the 
Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto 
him, We have not so much as heard whether there be 
any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto 
what, then, were ye baptized? And they said, 
Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily 
baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto 
the people that they should believe on him which 
should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. 
When they heard this, they were baptized in the name 
of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his 
hands on them, the Holy Ghost came on them." (Acts 
xix, 2-6.) 

In all these passages the intimate connection be- 
tween the use of water in baptism and the gift of the 
Holy Ghost is clearly seen. The one implied the other. 
If water baptism was administered first, the gift of 
the Holy Ghost was sure to follow ; if the Holy 
Ghost was imparted first, water baptism followed. 
This intimate connection elucidates the words of Jesus 
to Nicodemus : ' 6 Except a man be born of water and of 
the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God " 
(John hi, 5) ; the birth being, so far as it is by water, 
symbolical, but so far as it is by the Spirit, actual and real. 



68 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



But, in further proof that water baptism was de- 
signed to signify the gift of the Holy Ghost, we have 
the additional fact that the gift of the Holy Ghost, as 
well as the use of water in this sacred ordinance, is 
called a baptism. In giving attention to this fact, it 
will be necessary to refer again to some of the passages 
already quoted, emphasizing them in such a way as to 
render the fact more clear and impressive. 

John the Baptist, in the passage quoted from Matt, 
hi, 11, said: "J, indeed, baptize you with water, . . . 
but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost;" thus 
teaching us that there are two baptisms — the one a 
baptism of water, and the other a baptism of the Holy 
Ghost; the one administered by a mere man, and the 
other by Jesus Christ; the one for the body, and the 
other for the spirit ; the one visible and significant, and 
the other invisible and regenerating. The words of 
Christ in Acts i, 5, are to the same effect. " For John 
truly," he says, "baptized with water; but ye shall be 
baptized ivith the Holy Ghost, not many days hence." 

If we turn now to the tenth chapter of Acts, and 
read again the account of what took place under the 
preaching of Peter at the house of Cornelius, and 
then follow the apostle up to Jerusalem, and read 
again, in the eleventh chapter, what he said in making 
his defense there, we shall see that he understood the 
words of Christ, just quoted, as designed to teach the 
doctrine which it is the present aim to set forth ; that 
is, that water baptism is a sign of regeneration, which 
is the work of the Holy Ghost. In referring to what 



BAPTISM — ITS MEANING. 



69 



had taken place at the house of Cornelius, he said : 
"And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on 
them" — that is, on the Gentiles, at Csesarea — "as on 
us at the beginning" — that is, on the Jews, at Jerusa- 
lem, on the day of Pentecost. ' ' Then remembered I 
the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed 
baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized tvith the Holy 
Ghost." Several years had intervened between the time 
of the utterance of these words by Christ and the time 
of the occurrences at the house of Cornelius ; and yet 
so vivid and permanent was the impression which 
they had left upon the mind of Peter that, as soon 
as he saw that God had imparted the Holy Ghost 
to the Gentiles there present, he remembered them. 
And, remembering them, he saw at once the intimate 
connection existing between the two baptisms — the one 
the baptism of water, and the other the baptism of the 
Holy Ghost. And seeing this connection, he proceeded 
at once to baptize with ivater those whom God had 
already baptized with the Holy Ghost. He felt, in- 
deed, divinely instructed, by the fact of their baptism 
by the Holy Ghost, to proceed at once to baptize them 
with water; for he said, in continuing his defense, 
" Forasmuch, then, as God gave them the like gift" — ■ 
that is, the gift of the Holy Ghost — "as he did unto 
us w r ho believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I 
that I could withstand God ?" 

It has already been shown that there are but two 
sacraments in the Christian Church, and that these are 



70 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



water baptism and the Lord's-supper. All Christians 
are agreed in regard to the meaning of the Lord's- 
supper ; all understand it to have been designed to 
be commemorative of the death of Christ. All are 
not agreed in regard to the meaning of water baptism. 
Some teach that it is commemorative of the burial 
and resurrection of Christ. According to them, we 
have two sacraments referring directly to Christ — the 
one to his death, and the other to his burial and res- 
urrection ; and no sacrament referring to the gift of 
the Holy Ghost. What are those who accept of this 
view able to do with all those passages which have been 
quoted, in which water baptism and the gift of the 
Holy Ghost are mentioned together, and with those espe- 
cially in which the gift of the Holy Ghost is called a 
baptism ? Certainly there was some design in the fact 
that John said that he baptized with water, but that 
Christ should baptize with the Holy Ghost; in the fact 
that , when Christ had been baptized with water, the Holy 
Ghost immediately afterward descended upon hini ; in 
the fact that Christ, just before his ascension into 
heaven, said to his disciples that John had baptized 
with water, but that they should be baptized with the 
Holy Ghost, not many days thereafter ; in the fact that, 
on the day of Pentecost, Peter, in preaching, said to 
the people, " Repent and be baptized" — with water, of 
course — ' ' and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy 
Ghost ;" in the fact that on that day, when the Holy 
Ghost was poured out in so remarkable a manner, 
three thousand persons were baptized with water; in 



BAPTISM — ITS MEANING. 



71 



the fact that those who believed at Samaria, and were 
baptized with water, shortly afterward received the 
Holy Ghost; in the fact that the Holy Ghost was im- 
parted to Saul of Tarsus about the time when he was 
baptized with ivater; in the fact that, as soon as Peter 
discovered that the Holy Ghost had been imparted to 
Cornelius and his household, he at once administered 
water baptism to them; in the fact that Paul, having 
found certain disciples at Ephesus, and having asked 
them if they had received the Holy Ghost since they 
believed, and having been informed by them that they 
had not, asked them the question, ' ' Unto what, then, 
were ye baptized f" in the fact that, having learned 
from these disciples that they had not been baptized 
in the name of Christ, but only " unto John's bap- 
tism," Paul taught them the difference between the 
two baptisms, and that then, being baptized by him in 
the name of Christ, they at once received the Holy 
Ghost. 

It is evident, therefore, that water baptism is, as is 
stated in the Article of Religion referred to, "not only 
a sign of profession and a mark of difference, whereby 
Christians are distinguished from others that are not 
baptized," but that "it is also a sign of regeneration, 
or the new birth ;" in other words, that it is a sign of 
the gift and work of the Holy Spirit. 



72 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM, 



dhaptef XII. 



BAPTISM— MODE. 



IHE Methodist Church allows candidates for bap- 



tism to choose the mode by which they will receive 
the ordinance. From this fact some persons have been 
led to suppose that the Church is indifferent in regard 
to the mode. This is a mistake. The Church is more 
concerned that candidates for baptism should have 
right views of the meaning of the ordinance, than that 
they should be baptized by any particular mode; but 
it is not indifferent in regard to the mode. 

Exclusive immersionists seem not to be able to un- 
derstand the grounds upon which we can allow can- 
didates for baptism to select either one of two or three 
modes. With them mode is baptism and baptism is 
mode. With us mode is not baptism, and baptism is 
not mode. 

It has already been shown what we understand 
baptism to mean; that it is "a sign of profession and 
mark of difference" and "also a sign of regeneration," 
or, in other words, a sign of the work of the Holy 
Spirit upon the souls of men. Water is the element 
that is used in this ordinance. Why was it selected? 
For the reason, as has been stated, that, since it is 




BAPTISM — MODE. 



73 



cleansing in its effects when used upon material sub- 
stances, it most appropriately represents the cleansing 
efficacy of the Holy Spirit in its work upon the hu- 
man soul. The essential thing in the administration 
of the ordinance of baptism, after having a suitable 
candidate and a proper administrator, is that the ele- 
ment be water. The mode in which the ordinance is 
administered is of secondary importance. The signifi- 
cant character of the element that is used in the 
ordinance can not be affected by the mode in which 
the ordinance is administered. The element is water 
still, whether it be sprinkled or poured upon the per- 
son, or the person be immersed in it, beautiful, signifi- 
cant water. Hence it is that we are able, with perfect 
consistency, to allow candidates for baptism a choice 
of modes. 

But, while the Church does not deem the mode of 
the highest importance, it does deem it of some impor- 
tance. While candidates are allowed to have a choice 
of their own, the Church has, at the same time, a 
choice of its own; and it reserves to itself the right 
in all cases of setting its views fully and clearly before 
candidates for baptism before proceeding to the ad- 
ministration of the ordinance. 

The Church derives its preference of mode from 
its view of the meaning of the ordinance. Water 
baptism is, as has been shown, the symbol of Holy 
Ghost baptism. Holy Ghost baptism is, as has also 



74 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



been made to appear, the great, the heavenly baptism, 
the efficacious baptism, the baptism that effects the 
regeneration of the soul, the real baptism; while water 
baptism has no other aim nor effect in this connection 
than that of signifying that most important work. 
Holy Ghost baptism is the divine baptism ; water bap- 
tism is the human baptism. "I," said John the 
Baptist, " J," a mere man, 4 'baptize you with water; 
but he whose shoes I am not worthy to bear," he, 
the Son of God, 6 ' shall baptize you w T ith the Holy 
Ghosts 

Seeing, then, that water baptism has no saving nor 
changing power in itself, but that, besides being a sign 
of profession and mark of difference, it is a sign of 
Holy Ghost baptism, it is the view of the Church 
that it should be the aim to administer it in such a 
maniier as will cause it to be as fully significant of Holy 
Ghost baptism as possible. 

If, therefore, there is any mode of Holy Ghost 
baptism, water baptism ought to be made to conform 
to that mode. 

The first Holy Ghost baptism that we read of 
under the Christian dispensation was that which took 
place in Jerusalem, on the day of Pentecost. We 
have already quoted the words of Christ with refer- 
ence to it. "John," he said, "baptized with water; 
but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not 
many days hence." These words were uttered by the 
Savior but a few clays before his ascension into heaven, 



BAPTISM MODE. 



75 



and, consequently, but a few days before the day of 
Pentecost. The manner in which this Holy Ghost 
baptism took place is described by the historian of the 
event in these words : ' 6 They were all with one accord 
in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from 
heaven, as of a rushing, mighty wind, and it filled 
all the house where they were sitting. And there 
appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and 
it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled 
with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other 
tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 
ii, 1, 4.) 

The disciples, thus strangely affected, were charged 
by some with being drunken. Peter and the eleven 
rose up, and made response to this charge in these 
words : 1 ' These are not drunken, as ye suppose, . . . 
but this is that which was spoken by the Prophet 
Joel: and it shall come to pass in the last days, 
saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; 
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and 
your young men shall see visions, and your old men 
shall dream dreams ; and on my servants, and on my 
handmaidens I will pour out, in those days, of my 
spirit." (Acts ii, 15-18.) 

Notice the language here used: "I will pour out 
of my spirit " — ' 1 1 will pour out of my spirit upon all 
flesh" — " And on my servants and on my handmai- 
dens I will pour out, in those days of my spirit." 

This was the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The 
mode was that of pouring. The Spirit was poured out, 



76 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



was poured upon the disciples. It came down upon 
them. This was in accordance with the words uttered 
by Christ just before his ascension into heaven : ' ' But 
ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is 
come upon you." (Acts i, 8.) 

The mode by which the Holy Ghost baptism took 
place at the house of Cornelius was the same. While 
Peter was preaching, "the Holy Ghost fell on all them 
which heard the word. And they of the circumcision 
which believed" — that is, the Jew Christians — "were 
astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that 
on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the 
Holy Ghost." (Acts x, 44, 45.) 

Shortly afterwards, Peter, in giving an account at 
Jerusalem of the occurrences which had taken place 
at the house of Cornelius, said: "As I began to 
speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the be- 
ginning. Then remembered I the' word of the Lord, 
how that he said, John indeed baptized ivith ivater, but 
ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost." (Acts xi, 
15, 16.) 

It being made clear, then, that the mode of Holy 
Ghost baptism is that of pouring, it is evident that 
the nearer the resemblance of water baptism be to it, 
the more beautiful, appropriate, and impressive the 
rite. The descent of the water upon the head of the 
candidate is suggestive, in the highest degree, of the 
source o£ regenerating and purifying power ; that it is 
to heaven, and not to earth, that we are to look for 
help for the soul. 



BAPTISM MODE. 



77 



Sometimes persons who have given little attention 
to the subject of baptism, desire to receive the rite 
by immersion, under the impression that the greater 
the quantity of water used the safer and the bet- 
ter. Do not such persons, unconsciously it may be, 
attribute to water an efficacy which belongs, not 
to it, but to the Holy Ghost? Any reliance upon 
quantity, in respect to the water used in baptism, 
changes the nature of baptism into that of a saving 
ordinance. If quantity is any thing, it is a great deal ; 
and, in that case, by increasing it indefinitely, we 
may do away with the necessity of Holy Ghost bap- 
tism altogether. 

We should keep clear of any tendency to reliance 
upon water. The regeneration of the soul must be 
the work, either altogether, or else not at all, of the 
Holy Ghost. Water is a sign, and nothing but a sign, 
and, therefore, whether little or much be used, there 
is no efficacy in it. Safety, therefore, in receiving 
this ordinance, does not lie in the direction of increas- 
ing, to any extent beyond the requirements of public 
propriety, the quantity of water used. 

What has thus far been said upon the subject of 
the mode of Baptism would suffice, were it not for 
the fact that many exclusive immersionists are in the 
habit of affirming, in a confident and positive manner, 
that Christ was baptized by immersion, and of urging 
those who desire to receive baptism, to receive it in the 
same way, and thus follow the example of their Savior. 



\ 



78 ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 

Does any man know that Christ was baptized by 
immersion? It is not asked if any man believes that 
he was so baptized, but if any man knows it. If not, 
is it wise, is it in good taste, is it just, to affirm posi- 
tively that he was so baptized? 

By reading the third chapter of the gospel of Mat- 
thew, the first chapter of the gospel of Mark, and the 
third chapter of the gospel of Luke, it will be seen, 
that, at the time when John baptized Christ, he was bap- 
tizing very many others also. Undoubtedly the mode 
by which he baptized the general multitude was the 
mode by which he baptized Christ. How many others 
were baptized by him, it is impossible to know. The 
number was certainly very great. Matthew says, 
' ' Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and 
all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized 
of him in Jordan, confessing their sins." (hi, 5, 6.) 
Mark says, ' £ John did baptize in the wilderness, and 
preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of 
sins. And there went out unto him all the land of 
Judaia, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of 
him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins." (i, 4, 5.) 
Luke says, ' ' And he came into all the country about 
Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the 
remission of sins" (hi, 3); and then presents him as 
addressing "the multitude that came forth to be bap- 
tized of him." (hi, 7.) 

The number, therefore, who were baptized by him 
must have amounted to thousands. How, in all prob- 
ability, were they baptized ? 



BAPTISM — MODE. 



79 



Baptizing by immersion is not a work that is 
quickly or easily done, as any one who has ever tried 
it can testify. Leading persons into the water, im- 
mersing them, raising them up again, and then leading 
them out and committing them to their friends, re- 
quires time as well as strength. Is it reasonable to 
suppose that John, even with the assistance which his 
disciples may have been able to afford him, could have 
had the time or the strength to baptize by immersion 
all who went out to him? If not, in what manner 
could he have baptized them ? Was there any manner 
possible, under the circumstances, which would have 
required less time and less strength ? There was. The 
probability is that J ohn stood in the edge of the river, 
and that those who desired baptism came about him, 
and stood or kneeled, while he poured or sprinkled the 
water on their heads. In this manner it was possible 
for him to baptize a large number in a short time, and 
to continue in the work from clay to day, for weeks, 
without suffering serious exhaustion of strength. 

Another reason for supposing that he did not bap- 
tize them by immersion is, that to have done so would 
have necessitated some special preparation, in the way 
of baptismal robes, on the part of those who were to 
be baptized, as well as on the part of John himself. 
While, therefore, no man is able to say with certainty 
by what mode this multitude and Christ were baptized, 
one is able to say with certainty that it is highly prob- 
able that they were baptized by some other mode than 
that of immersion. 



80 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



The probability which exists in regard to the bap- 
tisms which were administered by John the Baptist, 
exists in regard to those which were administered by 
the apostles on the day of Pentecost. (See Acts ii, 
1-41.) Three thousand persons were baptized on that 
day. It was nine o'clock when Peter began to address 
the people. How long he continued to speak we know 
not. Only a part of his sermon — the substance, we 
suppose — has been handed down to us. The sacred 
writer, who has given us an account of the events of 
that day, says, in concluding the abstract of Peter's 
address, ' £ With many other words did he testify and 
exhort." (Acts ii, 40.) Considering all the facts and 
circumstances in the case — the want of previous under- 
standing or purpose on the part either of the apostles 
or the people ; the excitement ; the confusion ; the 
difficulty of separating those who desired baptism from 
those who did not ; the necessity of finding some place 
for the performance of the ceremony ; the improbabil- 
ity that the persons baptized would have been baptized 
by immersion, either without clothing of any kind or 
in their ordinary clothing ; the want of baptismal robes 
for so many persons ; and other things which may sug- 
gest themselves to the minds of candid persons — and it 
will seem altogether unreasonable to suppose that, 
from the time of the close of Peter's sermon to the 
close of the day, there was sufficient time, even if 
there had been sufficient strength on the part of the 
apostles, for the baptizing by immersion of such a mul- 
titude of candidates. They were baptized that day by 



BAPTISM — MODE. 



81 



some mode ; if not by immersion, then by some other 
mode. The probability is, therefore, that they were 
baptized by pouring or sprinkling. 

Take the case of Saul of Tarsus, afterwards Paul, 
the apostle. Was he baptized by immersion ? Let us 
see. When Ananias entered into the house where 
Saul was, the latter was kneeling in prayer. Ananias 
placed his hands upon his head, and addressed him, 
informing him that he had been sent to him by Jesus. 
' ' And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had 
been scales, and he received sight forthwith, and arose, 
and was baptized." (Acts ix, 18.) This baptism took 
place at Damascus, in Syria, in a house where Saul 
was staying. It was administered immediately after 
Saul had risen from his kneeling posture. He ' ' arose 
and was baptized." He was undoubtedly, therefore, 
baptized in the same room where he had been kneeling, 
and where, of course, there could not have been any 
provision for immersing persons. He was baptized 
standing, and, therefore, by having the water applied 
to him, and not by being immersed in it. He was 
undoubtedly baptized by pouring or sprinkling. 

It is almost equally certain that the Philippian 
jailer and his household were not baptized by immer- 
sion. Paul and Silas were in prison, at Philippi, in 
Macedonia, several hundred miles distant from Jeru- 
salem. At midnight they "prayed, and sang praises 
unto God : and the prisoners heard them. And sud- 
denly there was a great earthquake, so that the foun- 
dations of the prison were shaken ; and immediately all 

6 



82 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



the doors were opened, and every one's bands were 
loosed. And the keeper of the prison, awaking out of 
his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, drew out 
his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing 
that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried 
with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm ; for we 
are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang 
in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and 
Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must 
I do to be saved ? And they said, Believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy 
house. And they spake unto him the word of the 
Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took 
them, the same hour of the night, and washed their 
stripes ; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway." 
(Acts xvi, 25-33.) When it is remembered that the 
hour when these things took place was midnight ; that 
the jailer had not had the slightest idea, previously, 
that he would be baptized that night, and that, conse- 
quently, there could not have been any preparation for 
the ceremony ; that not only he, but also all his fam- 
ily, were baptized ; that there was no delay for prepa- 
ration, and that, consequently, the rite must have 
been performed in a very simple manner, it seems next 
to impossible that any one could conceive it reasonable 
to suppose that the baptisms could have taken place 
by immersion. 

What has been said upon the subject of the mode of 
baptism may be summed up in the following manner : 



BAPTISM MODE. 



83 



1. Water baptism, besides being a sign of profession 
and mark of difference, is the symbol of Holy Ghost 
baptism. 2. In order to make it as truly significant of 
Holy Ghost baptism as possible, the mode by which it 
is administered ought to be the same as that of Holy 
Ghost baptism. 3. The mode of Holy Ghost baptism 
is that of descent. The Holy Ghost is poured out, it 
falls upon, the person receiving it. 4. Therefore, the 
most significant and impressive manner in which water 
baptism can be administered is that of having the 
water descend upon the head of the person receiving 
the ordinance. 5. A fair interpretation of the in- 
stances referred to, to say nothing of others, seems to 
teach that this was the usual mode of administering 
the ordinance in the early days of Christianity. 



84 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



Cl|kptef XIII. 

THE BAPTISM OF YOUNG CHILDREN. 

A TTE^TION is again called to the declaration 
contained in the Seventeenth Article of Keiigion, 
that "the baptism of yonng children is to be retained 
in the Church." The reasons for this declaration are 
not inconsiderable, but weighty. 

The ordinance by which persons were admitted to 
membership in the Church before the days of Christ 
was circumcision. The ordinance by which they are 
admitted to membership now is baptism. The latter 
ordinance took the place of the former at the time of 
the commencement of the Christian dispensation, and 
has continued to occupy that place ever since. The 
Apostle Paul, in the second chapter of Colossians, 
speaks of "baptism" as the "circumcision of Christ" 
by which he means that baptism answers the ends, as 
the initiatory rite into the Church, under the Christian 
dispensation, which circumcision answered under the 
Mosaic. Consequently, whoever would have been en- 
titled to admission into the Church, previously to the 
commencement of the Christian dispensation, by the 
reception of the ordinance of circumcision, must be 
regarded as entitled to admission into it now by the 
reception of the ordinance of baptism, unless it can 



THE BAPTISM OF YOUNG CHILDREN. 85 

be shown that a change was made by Christ, by which 
the ordinance of baptism was to be denied to some 
to whom the ordinance of circumcision would have 
been administered. 

Young children, as well as older persons, received 
the ordinance of circumcision, and, by consequence, 
young children, as well as older persons, are to be re- 
garded as entitled to receive the ordinance of baptism, 
unless it can be shown that Christ intended that the 
administration of this ordinance should be withheld 
from them. Can this be shown? It can not. On 
the contrary, all that Christ ever did and said while 
on earth would go to show that no change in this 
respect was intended by him. The conduct of his 
disciples, on the occasion when the little children w r ere 
brought to him that he might touch them, would have 
been calculated, if he had done nothing to show his 
disapprobation of it, to lead to the conclusion that 
little children were about to receive less favorable con- 
sideration under the new dispensation than they had 
been accustomed to receive under the old. ' ' The dis- 
ciples rebuked those that brought them," endeavoring 
to keep them and the children at a distance from the 
Savior. Did Christ give any countenance to their 
conduct? Or did he let it pass as if it were a matter 
of indifference to him? He did neither. He showed a 
positive displeasure at it, and said rebukingly to them : 
"Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid 
them not ; for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily 
I say unto you, whoever shall not receive the kingdom 



86 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. 
And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon 
them, and blessed them." (Mark x, 14-16.) If these 
words and these acts of Christ are to be regarded as 
having any significance at all, they are to be regarded 
as teaching that the rights of little children in connec- 
tion with the Church were designed to be continued in 
full force under the new dispensation. 

The mind of Christ was expressed yet more clearly 
on the day of Pentecost. Peter, in his sermon on that 
day, said to the people who had been brought together 
by the wonderful manifestation of the Holy Ghost, 
' ' Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the 
name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye 
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost ; for the prom- 
ise is unto you and to your children" (Acts ii, 38, 39.) 
This was the first sermon preached under the new dis- 
pensation, and it is to be taken as the key-note of every 
sermon that was to follow. It was not the product of 
mere human wisdom and human effort. Christ, before 
his departure, had told his disciples that he would send 
the Holy Ghost to them, and that, when he should come, 
he would teach them all things, and bring all things to 
their remembrance. That promise was now fulfilled; 
the Holy Ghost had come ; and it was under the inspi- 
ration which he imparted to the disciples that they 
acted and spoke on that day. When, therefore, Peter 
said to the people that the promise was unto them and 
to their children, he was not uttering the mind of Pe- 
ter, but the mind of Christ. AVhoever, therefore, in 



THE BAPTISM OF YOUNG CHILDREN. 87 

preaching the Gospel of Christ, says to parents, "The 
promise is unto you" and fails to say with equal in- 
terest and emphasis, "and to your children" fails to 
follow the example set by the first preacher after the 
ascent of the Savior, and, in so doing, fails to preach 
the Gospel in all the comprehensiveness of its meaning 
and aim. 

If there is any thing that is clearly taught in the 
New Testament Scriptures, as well as in the old, it is 
this, that the door of sacred privileges and blessings is 
not to be opened to parents, and to be shut in the face 
of their children. When parents were converted and 
baptized, under the preaching of the apostles, their 
children were baptized with them. 

We are told of Cornelius, in the tenth chapter of 
the Acts of the Apostles, that he was " a devout man, 
and one that feared God with all his house ;" that he 
and all the members of his family were assembled to- 
gether on the occasion of Peter's going to his house to 
preach the Gospel to them ; and that they were all 
baptized by that apostle, after they had received the 
gift of the Holy Ghost. If there were small children 
there, they were, of course, included in the number 
who were baptized. 

In the sixteenth chapter of Acts we have the ac- 
count of the conversion of Lydia, of Philippi, in these 
words : ' ' And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller 
of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped 
God, heard us ; whose heart the Lord opened that she 
attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. 



88 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



And when she was baptized, and her household, she be- 
sought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful 
to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there." 
What the age of the youngest member of this family 
was, we do not know. But this we do know, that 
Lydia was baptized, and lier household. 

In the same chapter we have presented to us the 
case of the Philippian jailer, to which we turn again. 
He said to Paid and Silas, after he had brought them 
out of the prison, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake 
unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were 
in his house. And he took them the same hour of 
the night and washed their stripes; and was baptized, 
he and all his, straightway." Here, again, we do not 
know the age of the youngest member of the family, 
but we do know that all the members of the family, 
young and old, were baptized. 

Paul, in the sixteenth verse of the first chapter of 
his first epistle to the Corinthians, says : ' ' And I bap- 
tized also the household of Stephanas." 

Objection is made to the doctrine of infant baptism, 
by its opposers, on the ground that the ordinance of 
baptism is "a sign of profession." Young children, 
they say, not being capable of exercising and making 
a profession of faith, ought not to be baptized. This 
objection looks very plausible, and has caused many 
persons who have not been able to see its fallacy, to 



THE BAPTISM OF YOUNG CHILDEEX. 89 



turn against the doctrine. But if we ' ' search the 
Scriptures," we shall see that the objection is founded 
in error, since, on the same ground, objection might 
have been made to the circumcising of young children. 

Circumcision was as much "a sign of profession" 
as baptism is. Paul, in writing on the subject of faith, 
says : ' ' For we say that faith was reckoned to Abra- 
ham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? 
when he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision ? 
Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he 
received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the right- 
eousness of the faith which he had, being yet imcircum- 
cised; that he might be the father of all them that 
believe." (Kom. iv, 9, 10, 11.) 

Here w r e are taught, in a very clear and explicit 
manner, that Abraham, having believed God, was cir- 
cumcised with reference to his belief and to the right- 
eousness which was imputed to him in consequence of 
his belief ; and, consequently, that circumcision was 
for believers then, as much as baptism is for believers now. 
If, therefore, it would be right to withhold baptism 
from young children now T , on the ground that they are 
incapable of being believers, would it not have been 
right to withhold circumcision from young children 
then, on the same ground? But was circumcision ever 
withheld from little children on that ground? Never. 
On the contrary, it is probable that where one person 
was circumcised who was capable of exercising faith 
and making a profession of the same, a thousand were 
circumcised who were not able to distinguish their right 



90 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



hands from their left. Circumcision was never admin- 
istered except in connection with the idea of faith ; and 
yet only a very small number of all who were circum- 
cised were capable of exercising faith. The over- 
whelming majority of all who ever received the rite 
received it when they were only eight days old. What 
is the explanation of this fact? Is it that the idea 
with reference to which circumcision was instituted was 
ignored in all such cases ? Is it that the rite of cir- 
cumcision was administered where there was no faith ? 
By no means. It is this, that what the children were 
not able to do for themselves the parents did for them. 
The children were not able to believe for themselves, 
and then parents believed for them ; and, in so doing, 
acted in their true and proper relations to their chil- 
dren ; for God has clearly made it the duty of parents 
to think and act for their children until the children 
become old enough to think and act for themselves. 

Baptism is, as has been stated, "a sign of profes- 
sion." The idea of faith is, and ought to be, always 
associated with it — somebody's faith — the faith of some- 
body who is able to believe ; and baptism ought never 
to be administered where there is no faith. But it 
ought never to be refused where there is faith. If the 
child be too young to exercise faith for itself, then the 
faith of its parents should suffice. 

If the objection that little children should not be 
baptized because they are not able to believe were 
good, then the objection that they should not be ad- 
mitted into heaven when they die, because they are 



THE BAPTISM OF YOUNG CHILDREN. 91 

not able to believe, would be equally good ; for it is 
plainly taught in the Scriptures that faith is the condi- 
tion of salvation, and that those who have not believed 
are condemned already, because they have not believed. 
But will any person in his senses teach the doctrine 
that children who die before they are old enough to 
believe are utterly and eternally lost, and that became 
they have not believed f 

It is sometimes asked what benefit a little child re- 
ceives from baptism. It might be asked, in reply, 
what benefit a little' child received from circumcision. 
Was its nature changed by it ? Was its spirit purified 
by it? Not at all. Circumcision did not change the 
heart of Abraham, the first person to whom the rite 
was administered; for we are told that he was a right- 
eous man before receivings it. Nor did it change the 
heart of any one of the many millions to whom it was 
administered afterwards. It was not designed to do so. 
But would it be proper for any one, therefore, to say 
that circumcision was useless? Can not God find use 
for some things, in connection with the work of saving 
souls, which do not possess in themselves saving power ? 
The words of the Apostle Paul, already quoted, clearly 
declare the design of circumcision. It was a ' ' sign " 
and a " seal" It saved no soul, it regenerated no 
soul ; but it signified and authenticated much, and as 
much for little children as for persons of adult age. 

What was true of it, is true of baptism. The mere 
fact of the administration of this ordinance never 



92 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



saved, never regenerated, the soul of a single person, 
whether aged or young. 

But it is not necessary that the ordinance should be 
saving, in order to its being beneficial to those to 
whom it was designed to be administered. And if 
God designed, as we believe he did, that it should be 
administered to young children, as well as to adults, it 
would seem to be the duty of parents to study to know 
what it is necessary for theiti to do in order to secure 
to their children the benefits intended, rather than to 
reject the ordinance for their children as a useless cer- 
emony because they can not believe it to be saving in 
its effects. 

The benefits intended and possible in connection 
with the baptizing of a young child are not to be 
looked for from the mere fact of the application of the 
water of baptism to the head of the child. There is 
no merit in the water of baptism more than there is 
in the water of the clouds or of the brooks. Every 
thing depends upon the appreciation, the spirit, and 
the purpose with which the parents present the child, 
and upon their fidelity, afterwards, to the obligations 
which they have taken. The proper presentation of a 
child for baptism implies a public acknowledgment on 
the part of the parents, in some suitable form of words, 
that from God the child received its life, that unto God 
its warmest love and its truest obedience are due, and 
that to themselves God has committed it, for a time, 
for oversight and guardianship ; and a public and sol- 
emn promise that they will, to the best of their ability, 



THE BAPTISM OF YOUXG CHILDEEX. 93 



so train it that its character and life shall not bring 
any dishonor upon the name of God. The obligation 
under which the parents come — the pledge which they 
take — and not the application of the water to the head 
of the child, is the essential thing in infant baptism. 
The application of the water without the pledge would 
be of no more value than the application of a seal to a 
paper on which no agreement had been written and no 
name signed. No one would think of deriving any 
benefit from a paper having nothing but the impress 
of a seal upon it. But from a paper containing an 
agreement to which a man has signed his name, and 
which has then been stamped with a seal, one might 
expect to derive benefit. The application of water to 
the head of the child, if the fact of the application alone 
be considered, is the seal applied to the blank paper, 
and is without benefit. But the application of water 
to the head of the child, if considered in connection 
with the solemn obligation under which the parents 
have come to do certain things for the child, with ref- 
erence to its relations to God, is the seal applied to a 
paper on which there is an agreement — signed. 

The pledge which the Methodist Episcopal Church 
requires parents to take when presenting their children 
for baptism is, that they will teach their children ' ' the 
nature and end of this holy sacrament ;" that they will 
require them ' ' to give reverent attendance upon the 
appointed means of grace, such as the ministry of the 
Word and the public and private worship of God ;" 
and that they will provide that they ' ' read the Holy 



94 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



Scriptures, learn the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Com- 
mandments, the Apostles' Creed, the Catechism, and 
all other things which a Christian ought to know and 
believe to his soul's health." 

If young children are entitled to baptism, it is the 
duty of their parents to present them for the reception 
of this ordinance. They can not present themselves, 
and when not presented by those upon whom God has 
devolved the care of them, a privilege secured to them 
by the death of Christ has been denied to them. But 
this is true in connection with what has already been 
said, that baptism is a "sign of profession." The 
"profession" required is not a profession of mere gen- 
eral belief that Christ is the Savior of mankind, but a 
profession implying a hearty acceptance of Christ as a 
personal Savior, and a willingness and a readiness to 
take upon one's self all the obligations of the Christian 
life; in other words, all the obligations implied in 
Church membership. A person who is not already a 
member of the Church, and is not willing and suitable 
to take upon himself the obligations of Church mem- 
bership, is not a proper person to present a child for 
the reception of the ordinance of baptism, since it is 
impossible for such a person to perform truly and 
properly the duties enjoined on a parent of a baptized 
child. 

It is very desirable, in the j>resentation of a child for 
baptism, that both parents should be able to take part in 
the responses ; yet the child may be baptized though one 
of the parents be unprepared to assume the obligations 



THE BAPTISM OF YOUNG CHILDREN. 95 

required. In case neither of the parents is a member 
of the Church, and neither of them is willing and 
ready, at the time, to become a member, it is not the 
duty nor the right of a minister to baptize the child. 
Baptism is a Church ordinance, and implies Church 
membership. 

But what, it may be asked, of the rights of the 
child? The rights of the child do not exist, and are 
not to be considered, apart from the objects and ends 
for which the Church was established, and apart from 
the objects and ends for which the ordinance of bap- 
tism was instituted. God has placed the responsibility 
of the parents, with regard to .the child, above that of 
the Church; and the rights of the child exist in con- 
nection with its relations to the parents and the duties 
of the parents to it. The Church can not properly 
come in between the parents and the child, and can not 
assume to assist the parents with regard to the child to 
the extent of baptizing the child, until the parents have 
given their consent, and that in such sense and in such 
spirit and with such purpose as will tend to cause the 
benefits, designed and possible in connection with the 
proper administration of the ordinance of baptism, to 
be secured to the child. 

When young children have received the rite of 
baptism, then their relations to the Church, and the 
Church's relations to them, have been changed. Hav- 
ing had administered to them the initiatory rite of 



96 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



the Church, they have become — how can it be other- 
wise ? — members of the Church ; not full members, 
nor probationary members, but. certainly, infant mem- 
bers. They have been placed ' ' under the special care 
and supervision of the Church," and the Church has 
now a right to say somewhat in regard to their train- 
ing, and, at the proper time, to ask them to take upon 
themselves the obligations of a more advanced Church 
membership. In the Methodist Chmch provision is 
made for this. It is made the duty of every preacher 
in charge of a Church to ' ' organize the baptized chil- 
dren of the Church, at the age of ten years or younger, 
into classes, and appoint suitable leaders (male or fe- 
male), whose duty it shall be to meet them in class 
once a week, and instruct them in the nature, design, 
and obligations of baptism, and the truths of religion 
necessary to make them ' wise unto salvation ;' urge 
them to give regular attendance upon the means of 
grace ; advise, exhort, and encourage them to an im- 
mediate consecration of then hearts and lives to God, 
and inquire into the state of their religious experience." 

It is provided, further, that "whenever baptized 
children shall have attained an age sufficient to under- 
stand the obligations of religion, and shall give evi- 
dence of piety, they may be admitted into full mem- 
bership in our Church, on the recommendation of a 
leader with whom they have met at least six months 
in class, by publicly assenting before the Church to the 
baptismal covenant, and also to the usual questions on 
Doctrine and Discipline." If they decline, after having 



THE BAPTISM OF YOUNG CHILDREN. 97 

received proper instruction on the subject, and after 
having had ample time for consideration, to take upon 
themselves the obligations required, they occupy the 
position of repudiators of the act of their parents. 
The fault, in that case, is with them, and not with 
their parents. 

That many persons baptized in infancy have failed 
to meet the expectations implied in their baptism is 
made a ground of objection to the baptizing of young 
children. Such an objection is no more reasonable 
and proper than would be the objection to the bap- 
tizing of adults, on the ground that many persons bap- 
tized in adult age have afterwards repudiated their 
vows, and gone back to the world. It should be the 
interest and the aim, however, of all the friends of 
infant baptism that there should be as few cases of 
the kind as possible. The ordinance itself is right. 
What is needed is a proper view of it, and earnest, 
constant, persistent efforts, on the part of all con- 
cerned, to meet the requirements and obligations in- 
volved in it. Baptized children have seldom failed, when 
properly trained, to grow up to be Christian men and 
women. 

What is said in this chapter of the duties and 
rights of parents in respect to their relations to their 
own offspring is true of such persons as providentially 
have charge of children not their own. 

7 



98 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



THE LORD'S-SUPPER— ITS MEANING. 
IHE Lord's-supper was instituted by Christ just 



before his crucifixion. He had partaken of the 
Supper of the Passover with his disciples. ' ' And 
as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, 
and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, 
Take, eat ; this is my body. And he took the cup, 
and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink 
ye all of it ; for this is my blood of the new testa- 
ment, which is shed for many for the remission of 
sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth 
of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink 
it new with you in my Father's kingdom." (Matt, 
xxvi, 26-29.) 

Romanists have put a meaning on these words 
which Christ did not intend them to bear. Christ evi- 
dently meant that they should be taken in a figurative 
sense. Eomanists profess to believe that he meant 
that they should be taken in a literal sense. When 
Christ said that the bread was his body, and that the 
wine was his blood, he evidently meant that the bread 
represented his body, and that the wine represented his 
blood. But Eomanists profess to believe that he meant 
to teach that the bread was his body, and that the wine 




THE LORD'S-SITPPER — ITS MEANING. 99 

ivas his blood ; in other words, that the nature of these 
elements was so entirely changed that those who par- 
took of them did not partake of bread and w T ine, but 
of the very body and blood of Christ ; and that, too, at 
the very time when he was sitting there before them, 
speaking to them, and actually handing to them the 
bread and the w T ine. And they profess to believe, fur- 
ther, that, although Christ has ascended into heaven, 
and is now sitting at the right hand of God, a similar 
change takes place whenever the prayer of consecra- 
tion is made by a proper person, in the administration 
of the LordVsupper. The change which they say 
takes place at such a time is known by the name of 
transubstantiation. 

In connection with the doctrine of transubstantia- 
tion, they hold that the LordVsupper is a sacrifice ; in 
other words, that, as often as the Supper is admin- 
istered, Christ is offered anew for sins. It is in the 
belief of this doctrine, in connection with their belief 
in the doctrine of purgatory, that what are called 
masses are offered by them for the dead. It is in the 
belief of this doctrine, also, that the bread of the 
Supper is raised up by the administrator in the sight 
of the people, in order that they may worship it ; the 
raising of it up being known among them as the ele- 
vating of the host-; that is, of the victim of the sac- 
rifice. With the view that the bread is a part of the 
body of Christ, newly offered, they hold that whoever 
partakes of it is saved from his sins ; and, for this 
reason, they reserve pieces of it for the absent sick. 



100 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



It is from the idea that the Supper is a sacrifice that 
the administrator of it is called a priest. 

In the administration of the Supper in the Romish 
Church, the priests, as they are called, partake of both 
the bread and the wine, while to the people they give 
the bread only. Their explanation of this is, that 
either the bread or the wine is a part of the whole of 
the body of Christ, and that, therefore, the giving 
of the one of these elements to the people answers the 
same purpose that the giving of both of them would. 

The absurdity of taking Christ's words in this place 
in a literal sense is seen when we undertake to receive 
his words in other places in the same sense. He said, 
" I am the vine, ye are the branches." Was he literally 
a vine ? and were his disciples literally branches ? He 
said, also, that he was "the way," and "the door." 
Was he literally either a way or a door? He said, 
moreover, that his Father was a " husbandman ;" that 
is, a farmer. Is God literally a farmer? Christ is 
called a lion at one time, and a lamb at another. Was 
he literally either a lion or a lamb? Nobody thinks 
that he was. The Supper which Christ and his disci- 
ples had been eating when he instituted the Lord's- 
supper was in commemoration of the Passover which 
had taken place in Egypt ; and, in consequence, it was 
called the Passover. Was it the Passover ? Not lit- 
erally. It was only a memorial of the Passover. 
Whenever the Jews partook of it they thought of the 
Passover, and blessed God. Christ had the memorial 
character of this supper in his mind when he instituted 



THE LOKD's-SUPPER— ITS MEANING. 101 

the new Supper. He said, in substance, to those who 
were with him, "As the Supper which you have just 
been eating was the Passover — that is, as it represented 
the Passover — so the bread and the wine in this new 
Supper are my body and blood ; that is, they represent 
my body and blood." No change whatever was im- 
plied, by the language used, in the nature of these ele- 
ments. The bread remained bread, and the wine re- 
mained wine ; but they were no longer common bread 
and common wine, because they had been set apart to 
a most sacred use. 

If the doctrine of transubstantiation be untrue, so 
must the doctrine that Christ is offered anew as a 
sacrifice every time the Lord's-supper is administered 
be untrue. But the Scriptures themselves declare that 
the day of the offering of sacrifices is past. In Hebrews 
ix, 25-28, we have these words: ''Nor yet that he should 
offer himself often, as the high-priest entereth into the 
holy place every year with blood of others ; for then 
must he often have suffered since the foundation of the 
world: but now once in the end of the world hath he 
appeared, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after 
this the judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear 
the sins of many." And in Heb. x, 11-14, these: 
v "And every priest standeth" — that is, has been accus- 
tomed, under the Mosaic dispensation, to stand — 
"daily ministering, and offering oftentimes the same 
sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this 
man" — that is, Christ Jesus — "after he had offered 



102 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right 
hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his ene- 
mies be made his footstool. For by one offering he 
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." Also, 
26th verse: ".For if we sin willfully after that we have 
received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth 
no more sacrifice for sins." If "there remaineth no 
more sacrifice for sins," then the Lord's-supper is not 
a sacrifice, and he that administers it is not a priest. 
Accordingly, Christ, when about to ascend into heaven, 
said, not "Go ye into all the world and offer sacrifices " 
but, " Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel;" 
that is, tell the good news that the all sufficient, the one 
true and only sacrifice, has been offered, and that now, 
since there remaineth no more need of sacrifice, the altars 
of the world may be taken down and pulpits erected in 
their places. The ministers of the Christian religion 
are not priests. They are either simply preachers of 
the Gospel, or they are nothing, so far as office in the 
Church of God is concerned. 

If the doctrines just condemned have no basis of 
truth upon which to rest, neither have those concern- 
ing the adoration of the host, the offering of masses 
for the dead, and the reserving of the elements for the 
sick. And, as for withholding the wine from the peo- 
ple, this is not only directly contrary to the example of p 
Christ, but is also contrary to the former practice of 
Romanists themselves. 

Some, who do not go so far as to affirm that 
an actual change of the bread and of the wine into 



THE LOKD's-SUPPER — ITS MEANING. 103 

the body and the blood of Christ is produced by the 
prayer of consecration, profess to believe that the 
body and the blood of Christ are introduced, by the 
prayer of consecration, into the bread and the wine. 
The doctrine of this class of religionists is known by 
the name of co ^substantiation. If the doctrine of 
£ra?isnbstantiation is false, this must be, also; other- 
wise those who partake of the bread and the wine do 
as really partake of the body and blood of Christ as 
if a complete change took place in these elements. 

The true doctrine in regard to the LordVsupper 
is that which has already been declared; namely, that 
the ordinance is commemorative in its character; that 
is, that it is to be observed in memory of Christ. 
' ' This," said Christ, "do in remembrance of me." 
(1 Cor. xi, 24.) But it commemorates, above every 
thing else, his death. "For as often as ye eat this 
bread, and drink this cup, ye clo show the Lord's 
death till he come." (1 Cor. xi, 26.) 

The views of the Methodist Church are formally 
expressed in regard to the nature and meaning of the 
Lord's-supper in the following terms: "The Supper 
of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Chris- 
tians ought to have among themselves, one to another, 
but rather is a sacrament of our redemption by Christ's 
death; insomuch that, to such as rightly, worthily, 
and with faith receive the same, the bread which we 
break is a partaking of the body of Christ ; and likewise 
the cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood of Christ. 



104 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



" Transubstantiation, or the change of the substance 
of bread and wine in the Supper of our Lord, can not 
be proved by Holy Writ, but is repugnant to the plain 
words of Scripture, everthroweth the nature of a sacra- 
ment, and hath given occasion to many superstitions. 

"The body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten in 
the Supper, only after a heavenly and spiritual man- 
ner. And the means whereby the body of Christ is 
received and eaten in the Supper is faith. 

"The sacrament of the Lord's Supper was not by 
Christ's ordinance reserved, carried about, lifted up, 
or worshiped." (Article XVIII.) 

"The cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the 
lay people; for both the parts of the Lord's-supper, 
by Christ's ordinance and commandment, ought to be 
administered to all Christians alike." (Article XIX.) 

' ' The offering of Christ, once made, is that perfect 
redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction for all the 
sins of the whole world, both original and actual; 
and there is none other satisfaction for sin but that 
alone. Wherefore the sacrifice of masses, in the which 
it is commonly said that the priest doth offer Christ 
for the quick and the dead, to have remission of pain 
or guilt, is a blasphemous fable and dangerous deceit." 
(Article XX.) 



THE LORD'S-SUPPER — HOW RECEIVED. 105 



THE LORD'S-SUPPER— BY WHOM, AND IN WHAT 
SPIRIT, TO BE RECEIVED. 

^HHE Lord's-supper, though not what Romanists 



and some others would have it to be, is far from 
being an ordinary supper, and is not, therefore, to be 
administered on any but sacred occasions. It is a 
supper which is peculiar to the Church. Its proper 
place of administration is the house of God. Its proper 
administrator is a minister of the Gospel: by him 
should the bread be broken, and by him should the 
wine be poured out. And, to add to the solemnity 
of the administration of the ordinance, the words of 
Christ should be used: "Take, eat; this is my body 
which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of 
me;" and, "This is my blood of the New Testament 
which is shed for many for the remission of sins." 

In the Eighteenth Article of Religion, quoted in 
the last chapter, it is said that "to such as rightly, 
worthily, and with faith receive the same, the bread 
which we break is a partaking of the body of Christ; 
and likewise, the cup of blessing is a partaking of the 




blood of Christ. 



106 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM, 



None ' ' rightly " receive the Lord's-supper but such 
as have accepted Christ as their Savior, and have 
given evidence of their faith in him by having received, 
if it has been reasonably possible for them to do so, 
the rite of baptism, whereby they have been admitted 
into union and fellowship with the followers of Christ. 
Baptism is, as has already been seen, "a sign of pro- 
fession, and mark of difference, whereby Christians 
are distinguished from others that are not baptized ; ' ' it 
is, therefore, the rite which was designed to be admin- 
istered to those who are beginning to live the Chris- 
tian life. The Lord's-supper is the rite which was 
designed to be administered to those who have already 
begun to live that life; and the invitation which is 
given from Methodist pulpits, when the supper is 
about to be administered, is to be understood to be given 
to such persons. - But while none but the followers of 
Christ are invited by us to partake with us of the 
Lord's-supper, the invitation which we extend is de- 
signed to include all the followers of Christ who may 
be present, as well those who are members of other 
Churches as those who are members of our own 
Church. In this we differ from Baptists, who, with 
the exception of those known as Free-will Baptists 
and probably a few others, do not invite any but 
such as have been baptized by immersion to commune 
with them, and do not go beyond the pale of their 
own Churches to commune with others. Methodism 
teaches that we should not refuse to sit down at the 
Lord's table with any who have made a public profes- 



THE LORD ? S-SUPPER HOW RECEIVED. 107 



sion of faith in Christ, and whose lives give evidence 
of the sincerity of their profession, although they may 
not agree with us on all points of doctrine. 

But while none " rightly" receive the Lord's-sup- 
per but such as have made a public and formal pro- 
fession of faith in Christ, if it has been in their power 
to do so, the receiving of the Supper ' ' worthily and 
with faith," implies something more than mere Church 
membership on the part of the receiver. It implies 
a sense of need of help, an exalted appreciation of the 
grace and merit of Christ as the Redeemer and Savior 
of men, a sincere and earnest desire and purpose to 
live a life of love, of peace, and of holiness, and a 
sincere and confident reliance upon the merit and in- 
tercession of Christ for salvation. 

The words of the invitation already alluded to 
teach the spirit in which persons are expected to ap- 
proach the Lord's table among us. They are these : 
' ' If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, 
Jesus Christ the righteous ; and he is the propitiation 
for our sins ; and not for ours only, but also for the sins 
of the whole world. Wherefore, ye that do truly and 
earnestly repent of your sins, and are in love and charity 
with your neighbors, and intend to lead a new life, fol- 
lowing the commandments of God, and walking from 
henceforth in his holy ways ; draw near with faith, and 
take this holy sacrament to your comfort ; and devoutly 
kneeling, make your humble confession to Almighty 
God." 



108 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



The effect of the proper observance of this sacra- 
ment is to spiritualize our affections and to bring us 
into more intimate relations with Christ. We say 
"the proper observance of" it; for the ordinance is 
not saving in its nature, and the mere fact of one's re- 
ceiving the sacred symbols can not bring grace to him. 
To receive any benefit one must come ' ' rightly, worth- 
ily, and with faith ;" but he who comes in this way 
comes with a proper sense of his own need, a proper 
recognition of the infinite goodness and love of the 
Father, and a proper appreciation of, and a proper 
reliance upon, the grace and merit of Christ the 
Savior ; in other words, he puts himself properly be- 
fore God ; and whoever does this has a right to expect 
recognition and blessing at the hands of God. 

While no one ought to partake of the Supper who 
can not partake of it " rightly, worthily, and with 
faith," no one who can so partake of it ought to fail 
to do so. Occasionally a person is found who, though 
sincerely trying, as far as can be judged from all out- 
ward appearance, to live in accordance with God's will, 
declines to accept the invitation to draw near to the 
Supper of the Lord, on the ground that the ordinance 
is too sacred for any but the most spiritual of the chil- 
dren of God to receive it. This is an erroneous view 
of what Christ intended to be a means of grace to all 
his sincere and faithful followers. The ordinance is 
not more sacred, certainly, than is Christ himself, who 
instituted it. And if one has not hesitated, and does 



THE LOKD ? S-SUPPER — HOW RECEIVED. 109 

not hesitate, to accept Christ as his Savior, he ought 
not to hesitate to commemorate the death of Christ, by 
which his salvation was purchased, in the way ap- 
pointed by Christ. 



110 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



C^aptei< XVI. 



DOING XO HARM— AVOIDING EVIL. 
HILE the Sacred Scriptures teach, very clearly 



' * and forcibly, the necessity of the possession, by 
the followers of Christ, of a knowledge of sacred truth, 
they teach, not less clearly and forcibly, the necessity 
of the cultivation by them of a spirit of earnestness in 
then efforts to illustrate that truth by the excellency 
and beauty of their lives. 

With a desire to follow the mind of the Spirit, as 
thus indicated, the Methodist Church has ever laid 
great stress upon morality in its members. It has es- 
tablished it as a rule that there shall be ; ' only one 
condition previously required of those who desire ad- 
mission into" its fellowship, "a desire," on then part, 
" to flee from the wrath to come, and to be saved from 
their sins;" but it assumes that, "wherever this is 
really fixed in the soul, it will be shown by its fruits." 
Hence it expects of all who are admitted into its fel- 
lowship that they will evidence, and " continue to evi- 
dence, their desire of salvation, first, by doing no 
harm, by avoiding evil of every kind, especially that 
which is most generally practiced ; such as, 

"The talcing of the name of God in vain." This is 
forbidden in the Third Commandment, which says: 




DOING NO 



HARM—. 



■AVOIDING EVIL. 



Ill 



" Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God 
in vain ; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that 
taketh his name in vain." (Ex. xx, 7.) Some per- 
sons seem to think that this commandment condemns 
nothing more than profane swearing. Such is not 
the case. Any irreverent or even unnecessary use of 
God's name is a violation of the commandment. God's 
name should never be used when its use can reason- 
ably be avoided, and when used it should be used with 
the profoundest reverence. It is a sacred name. Christ 
taught us in the Lord's Prayer to say, "Hallowed be 
be thy name." All such exclamations, therefore, as 
"Good God!" "My God!" "Good Gracious!" are 
improper to be used by any person, but especially by 
a person professing godliness. 

" The profaning of the day of the Lord, either by doing 
ordinary ivork therein, or by baying or selling" God 
has said to us in the Fourth Commandment, " Remem- 
ber the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt 
thou labor, and do all thy work : but the seventh day 
is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God : in it thou shalt 
not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, 
thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, 
nor thy stranger that is within thy gates : for in six 
days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and 
all that in them is, and rested the seventh day, where- 
fore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed 
it." (Ex. xx, 8-11.) Works of necessity and works 
of charity and religion God allowed to be done on the 
Sabbath, but not ordinary works. We may protect 



112 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



property from injury or loss by fire or flood; we may 
protect the lives of brute creatures, and, much more, 
the lives of human beings ; we may visit the sick and 
relieve the afflicted ; we may serve God and promote 
his cause in the sanctuary or elsewhere ; but we may 
not engage in any secular business. Neither may we 
defer till the Sabbath any secular work that can be 
done in the week, and then plead necessity for doing it 
on that day. 

"Drunkenness, buying or selling spirituous liquors, or 
drinking them, unless in cases of extreme necessity." In 
regard to drunkenness Christ said: "Take heed to 
yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged 
with surfeiting and drunkenness." (Luke xxi, 34.) 
Paul declares that drunkards shall not inherit the 
kingdom of God. (1 Cor. vi, 10.) He exhorts men, 
therefore, to walk "not in rioting and drunkenness." 
(Rom. xiii, 13.) In regard to the man that helps to 
make drunkards the Lord spoke thus, in olden times : 
"Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that 
puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken 
also." (Hab. ii, 15.) Moderate drinking leads to 
drunkenness. There is no absolute safety to any man, 
except in total abstinence from the use of spirituous 
liquors as a beverage. Only ' ' in cases of extreme ne- 
cessity" should they be used. The language of the 
Discipline is approved by Paul's direction to Timothy : 
"Use a little wine for thy stomach's sake, and thine 
often infirmities." (1 Tim. v, 23.) Only "a little 
wine," even in sickness, is the apostle's advice. 



DOING NO HARM — AVOIDING EVIL. 113 

' ' Slaveholding ; buying or selling slaves." The spirit 
and tenor of the Sacred Scriptures are clearly against 
slavery. The. laws of the Old Testament Scriptures 
forbade the holding of any J ew in bondage for a longer 
time than six years, and required that, on his being set 
free at the end of that time, he should not be allowed 
to go away empty-handed. (Ex. xxi, 2 ; and Deut. 
xv, 12-14.) For a violation of these laws at a certain 
time, God inflicted very severe judgments upon the 
people. (Jer. xxxiv, 8-21.) The principles laid down 
in the New Testament Scriptures are more clearly 
against the institution. The essence of these princi- 
ples is given in the words used by Christ : ' ' And as 
ye w r ould that men should do to you, do ye also to 
them likewise." (Luke vi, 31.) 

"Fighting, quarreling, braiding, brother going to law 
with brother ; returning evil for evil, or railing for rail- 
ing; the using of many words in buying or selling" 
These things are evidences of an ungodly disposition. 
The Apostle James asks : ' ' From whence come wars 
and fightings among you ? Come they not hence, even 
of your lusts that war in your members ?" (James 
iv, 1.) Paul says : " Is it so, that there is not a wise 
man among you ? No, not one that shall be able to 
judge between his brethren? But brother goeth to 
law with brother, and that before the unbelievers." 
(1 Cor. vi, 5, 6.) Peter advises the brethren to be 
loving, ' ' not rendering evil for evil, or railing for 
railing, but, contrariwise, blessing." (1 Peter hi, 9.) 
Paul says, " Let your conversation be without covet- 

8 



114 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



ousness." (Heb. xiii, 5.) Solomon thus describes the 
man who desires to purchase an article for less than it 
is worth : ' ' It is nanght, it is naught, saith the buyer ; 
but when he is gone his w T ay, then he boasteth." 
(Prov. xx, 14.) 

' ' The buying or selling of goods that have not paid the 
duty" When these words were first written, the 
smuggling of goods into England was quite common, 
and many persons purchased the goods thus intro- 
duced, knowing that they had been smuggled. This 
sin is less common in this day than it was formerly, 
though it is not ^infrequently practiced now. Many 
persons, who would not think of taking any advantage 
of an individual in any private transaction, do not 
hesitate to take advantage of the civil governments 
under which they live and by which they are pro- 
tected. In so doing, they violate the Scriptures. 
"Let each soul," says Paul, "be subject unto the 
higher powers. For there is no power but of God. . . . 
Render, therefore, to all their dues : tribute to whom 
tribute is due ; custom to whom custom ; fear to whom 
fear; honor to whom honor." (Rom. xiii, 1-7.) 

" Tlie giving or taking of things on usury; that is, 
unlawful interest." Different States have different laws 
on the subject of interest ; some allowing higher and 
others lower rates. What, therefore, might not be 
usury in one State might be in another. It is the duty 
of Christians to be obedient to the laws under which 
they live. (Rom. xiii, 1-7.) The law to the Jew on 
this subject was, ' ' Thou shalt not lend upon usury to 



DOING NO HARM AVOIDING EVIL. 115 



thy brother." (Deut. xxiii, 19.) Usury evinces and, 
at the same time, tends to the cultivation of a spirit of 
avarice, which is contrary to the spirit of Christianity. 
" For the love of money," says the Apostle Paul, "is 
the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, 
they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves 
through with many sorrows." (1 Tim. vi, 10.) 

" Uncharitable or unprofitable conversation; particu- 
larly speaking evil of magistrates or of ministers" This 
is one of the most common and, at the same time, one 
of the greatest of evils. ' ' The tongue is a little mem- 
ber," but it "is a fire, a world of iniquity; ... it 
defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course 
of nature; and it is set on fire of hell." (James iii, 
5, 6.) "If any man among you seem to be religious, 
and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own 
heart, this man's religion is vain." (James i, 26.) 
The ministers here spoken of are ministers of state. 
Many persons feel free to say what they please about 
public men, and especially about public men not of 
their own party ; condemning them, not unfrequently, 
on insufficient grounds, and making charges against 
them which have no foundation in fact. One has no 
more right to speak unadvisedly of public men than 
he has of private individuals. A true Christian will 
try to speak the truth of all men, and to have the 
truth seasoned with charity when he speaks it. The 
words of Paul, already quoted, are in place here : 
" Render, therefore, to all their dues; . . . honor to 
whom honor." (Rom. xiii, 7.) Peter classes such as 



116 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



" despise government," and "are not afraid to speak 
evil of dignities," with those who are to be reserved 
" unto the day of judgment to be jDunished." (2 Peter 
ii, 9, 10.) 

' ' Doing to others as we would not they should do unto 
us" This is general and comprehensive, having respect 
to all that we say or do in our intercourse with others. 
The true rule of life is the golden rule, already quoted, 
given by Christ himself : ' ' And as ye would that 
men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." 
(Luke vi, 31.) 

"Doing what we hioiv is not for the glory of God; as 
the putting on of gold and costly apparel" By this rule 
it is not to be understood that the use of gold and 
costly apparel under any and all circumstances, is 
intended to be condemned; but the unnecessary, ex- 
travagant, and vain use of such things. Whatever is 
unnecessarily, extravagantly, and vainly put upon our 
persons diminishes our ability to contribute to the 
causes of charity and religion, ministers to an unbe- 
coming spirit in ourselves, and gives offense to the 
humble poor. The adorning taught in the Sacred 
Scriptures is not that "of gold" — gold in the ears 
and on the fingers, for instance — nor "of apparel" — 
apparel that is purchased for show more than for use, 
and purchased, perhaps, at the expense of peace and 
justice — but " of a meek and quiet spirit, which is, in 
the sight of God, of great price." (1 Peter iii, 3, 4.) 
Paul advises women to adorn themselves " with good 
works" rather than with "gold, or pearls, or costly 
array." (1 Tim. ii, 9, 10.) 



DOING NO HAEM— AVOIDING EVIL. 117 



" The taking of such diversions as can not be used in 
the name of the Lord Jesus." Under this head may be 
embraced dancing ; visiting the theater, the circus, the 
horse-race, and other shows and displays of like char- 
acter; card playing; billiard playing; betting; buying 
lottery tickets ; and other things of similar nature and 
tendency. These are all purely worldly in their 
character, and injurious to the Christian life. ' ' This 
I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye 
henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the 
vanity of their mind." (Eph. iv, 17.) "Set your 
affection on things above, not on things on the earth." 
(Col. iii, 2.) 

" The singing of those songs, or the reading of those 
books , which do not tend to the knowledge or love of God." 
Whatever does not tend to the knowledge or love of 
God is clearly opposed to God and to the life of godli- 
ness. Every book and every song that tends in any 
degree to weaken the faith, the love, the hope, the zeal, 
the purpose, the patience of a soul is of this class, 
and is, therefore, to be rejected. "Behold thou de- 
si rest truth in the inward parts." (Psa. li, 6.) "What- 
soever things are true, Avhatsoever things are honest, 
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, 
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of 
good report ; if there be any virtue, and if there be any 
praise, think on these things." (Phil, iv, 8.) 

"Softness and needless self-indulgence." In Amos a 
woe is pronounced against them that are at ease in 
Zion. (Amos vi, 1.) The Christian life is not a life 



118 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



in which one's own ease or comfort is to be sought. 
Said Christ, ' ' Whosoever will come after me, let him 
deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me," 
(Mark viii, 34) ; and the apostles everywhere teach 
the necessity of the greatest possible diligence on the 
part of the followers of Christ. 

6 'Laying up treasure upon earth" This rule is based 
upon the words of Christ : ' ' Lay not up for yourselves 
treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth cor- 
rupt, and where thieves break through and steal ; but 
lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where 
neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves 
do not break through nor steal." (Matt, vi, 19, 20.) 

What is meant is, not that a man should not oavu 
any property here, but that he should not make the 
accumulation of property his great aim in life — should 
not set his affections on it as the chief good; "for 
where your treasure is," said Christ, " there will your 
heart be also." (Matt, vi, 21.) The true end of 
human existence is the glory of God. The time, the 
talents, and the temporal possessions of men ought to 
be used in promoting the cause of God among men. 
Eev. John Wesley, with this important end in view, 
made it a rule to make all he could, honestly, to save 
all he could, and to give all he could. 

" Borrowing without a jirob ability of paying ; or taking 
up goods without a probability of paying for them" Do- 
ing the things here condemned may sometimes be 
the result of miscalculation. It seldom fails to end 
in dishonesty. The Christian should be the most 



DOING NO HARM — AVOIDING EVIL. 119 

careful of all men in regard to all his business affairs. 
Christianity does not raise its adherents above the 
ordinary obligations of life; on the contrary, it holds 
them to the strictest performance of those obli- 
gations. Any disregard of the principles of just 
dealing generally accepted among men, or even any 
carelessness in regard to them, on the part of a pro- 
fessed follower of Christ, tends to bring the charac- 
ter of the person, and, at the same time, the character 
of Christianity itself, into disrepute. " Provide things 
honest in the sight of all men," is the injunction of the 
Apostle Paul. (Rom. xii, 17.) The same apostle ex- 
horts the followers of Christ to 6 6 walk honestly, as in 
the day." (Rom. xiii, 13.) 



120 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



Cl)kptef XVII. 

DOING GOOD. 

T3UT the Scriptures teach the necessity of a posi- 
tive, as well as of a negative, righteousness, on 
the part of Christians; and the Methodist Church, hi 
harmony with this fact, requires that its members 
shall give evidence of their desire for salvation, not 
only "by doing no harm," and "by avoiding evil of 
every kind," but also "by doing good; by being in 
every kind merciful after their power; as they have 
opportunity, doing good of every possible sort, and, 
as far as possible, to all men." 

"To their bodies, of the ability which God giveth, by 
giving food to the hungry, by clothing the naked, by visit- 
ing them that are sick or in prison" When Christ was on 
earth his life was rendered beautiful by the kindness, the 
tenderness, the compassion, which he displayed toward 
persons in distress. He was strength to the weak, feet 
to the lame, ears to the deaf, eyes to the blind, health 
to the sick. He "went about doing good." No one 
ever appealed to him in vain. No one ever showed 
any disposition to receive needed help at his hands, with- 
out being helped. He was "full of grace." He car- 
ried sunshine and happiness with him wherever he 
went. His life was a new lesson to men — a lesson of 



DOING GOOD. 



121 



humanity. His life is our example. The more of 
humanity we have, the more of the mind of Christ we 
have, and the more perfectly do we resemble him. 
He taught his disciples to cultivate this mind. ' ' Bles- 
sed," said he, "are the merciful, for they shall obtain 
mercy." (Matt, v, 7.) "Give to him that asketh thee, 
and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou 
away." (Verse 42.) In teaching them to cultivate a 
spirit of kindness, he taught them to cultivate it 
toward all persons. He said to them : 6 6 Ye have 
heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, 
Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do 
good to them that hate you, and pray for them which 
despitefully use you, and persecute you." (Verses 
43, 44.) The Gentile at whose house the second great 
outpouring of the Holy Spirit took place, was the 
man who ' ' gave much alms to the people, and prayed 
to God alway." His alms and his prayers went up 
"for a memorial before God." (Acts x, 2, 4,) 

"Remember," says the Apostle Paul, "them that 
are in bonds, as bound with them ; and them which 
suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body." 
(Heb. xiii, 3.) The Apostle James, who did not ac- 
cept any man's profession of faith unless it was ac- 
companied by works, says: "Pure religion and unde- 
nted before God and the Father, is this, To visit the 
fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep 
himself unspotted from the world." (James i, 27.) 

" To their souls, by instructing, reproving, or exhorting 



122 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



all we have any intercourse with; trampling under foot 
that enthusiastic doctrine, that ' we are not to do good 
unless our hearts be free to it.' " God has laid great 
stress upon the truth. Christ said to certain ones, 
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall 
make you free." (John viii, 32.) It is the duty of the 
children of God to rejoice in the truth, and to en- 
deavor to spread it abroad as much as possible. A 
man is under the same obligation to impart instruc- 
tion, reproof and exhortation to those with whom he 
has intercourse, when they need these things, that he is 
to furnish them with bread when they need it. It was 
written of old (Deut. viii, 3), and Christ repeated it, 
that ' ' man shall not live by bread alone, but by every 
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." 
(Matt, iv, 4.) The Psalmist recognized the obligation 
which rests upon a child of God to teach others, in 
these words: "Restore unto me the joy of thy salva- 
tion ; and uphold me with thy free spirit ; then will I 
teach transgressors thy ways ; and sinners shall be con- 
verted unto thee." (Psa. li, 12, 13.) Paul charged 
Timothy, and in charging him he has charged us all, to 
' ' reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and 
doctrine." (2 Tim. iv, 2.) It is the privilege of every 
one, in this way, to become a preacher of righteousness. 

" By doing good, especially to them that are of the 
household of faith, or groaning so to be; employing them 
preferably to others, buying one of another, helping each 
other in business ; and so much the more because the world 
will love its own, and iliem only.''' This rule is supported 



DOING GOOD. 



123 



by the words of Christ and of the Apostle Paul. 
Christ said, "If ye were of the world, the world 
would love his own : but because ye are not of the 
world, but I have chosen you out of the world, there- 
fore the world hateth you." (John xv, 19.) And 
Paul says, ' ' As we have, therefore, opportunity, let us 
do good unto all men, especially unto them w T ho are 
of the household of faith." (Gal. vi, 10.) The fol- 
lowers of Christ have sometimes suffered loss in busi- 
ness in consequence of the opposition of the world. 
The object of this rule is to prevent this, as far as 
possible. 

6 i By all possible diligence and frugality, that the Gos- 
pel be not blamed" Godliness is opposed to slothful- 
ness. The Scriptures everywhere teach industry, and 
industry with the greatest diligence and zeal. £ ' What- 
soever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might ; 
for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor 
wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest." (Eccles. 
ix, 10.) Godliness is not less opposed to extravagance 
and waste. Christ forcibly taught the necessity of fru- 
gality, when, after having miraculously fed the five 
thousand, he said to his disciples, "Gather up the 
fragments that remain, that nothing be lost." (John 
vi, 12.) 

' 6 By running ivith patience the race which is set before 
them, denying themselves, and taking up their cross daily, 
submitting to bear the reproach of Christ, to be as the filth 
and off scouring of the world; and looking that men should 
say all manner of evil against them falsely for the Lord's 



124 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



sake." The Christian life is the noblest life ; and there- 
fore the greatest effort is required on the part of him 
who lives it to live it worthily. It is a race for the 
highest honor and the highest glory, and we are ex- 
horted to run the race "with patience." (Heb. xii, 1.) 
It requires cross-bearing and self-denial. "If any 
man will come after me," said Christ, "let him deny 
himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." 
(Luke ix, 23.) Men ought to speak well of the 
Christian. They do not always do so. He is com- 
pelled at times to bear "the reproach of Christ." 
(Heb. xi, 26.) Nay, sometimes he is hated and 
scorned by the world. "We are made," says the 
Apostle Paul, "as the filth of the world, and are the 
offscouring of all things." (1 Cor. iv, 13.) Christ 
was reviled by those who hated him, and he said, "If 
they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, 
how much more shall they call them of his household?" 
(Matt, x, 25.) But while warning his followers of 
what they might expect from the ungodly, he at the 
same time comforted and encouraged them. " Blessed," 
said he, " are ye when men shall revile you, and per- 
secute you, and shall say all manner of evil against 
you falsely, for my sake. Kejoice, and be exceeding 
glad; for great is your reward in heaven." (Matt, 
v, 11, 12.) 



ATTENDANCE UPON THE ORDINANCES. 125 



dll^tef XVIII. 

ATTENDANCE UPON THE ORDINANCES OF THE 
HOUSE OF GOD. 

THE Church expects all who are in its fellowship 
further to evidence their desire for salvation ' ' by 
attending upon all the ordinances of God : such are, 
The public worship of God; The ministry of the 
Word, either read or expounded ; The Supper of the 
Lord ; Family and private prayer ; Searching the 
Scriptures ; and Fasting or abstinence." A part of 
these duties are for public and a part for private ob- 
servance. Only those which are for public observance 
will be noticed in this chapter. They are these : 

1. " The public worship of God." Ordinarily the 
phrase ' ' public worship " is used to signify all the 
public services of the house of God. In this place it 
is used in a more restricted sense — in the sense of 
public prayer and public praise. Public prayer was 
instituted at the time of the giving of the Law at 
Mount Sinai. Previously, the nearest approximation 
to it was family prayer, the head of the family lead- 
ing in the service. At that time, however, God di- 
rected that a tabernacle should be built, and that a 
public altar should be erected, for the congregation; 



126 



.ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



and at the same time established a public priesthood, 
whose duty it should be to offer sacrifices and to make 
confession and supplication for the people. Probably 
public praises began to be sung at the same time. We 
know that one grand hymn of praise had been sung 
at the Red Sea. In the days of David the singing of 
praises became a prominent part of the public worship. 
It has continued to be a prominent part of it ever 
since. 

Christ taught his disciples, by his own example, to 
take part in these acts of worship. He both prayed 
and sang with his followers. After his departure they 
assembled together ; ' ' and when the day of Pentecost 
was fully come, they were all with one accord in one 
place," worshiping God, and waiting for the fulfillment 
of the promise of the gift of the Comforter ; and it 
was while they were thus assembled and thus engaged 
that the Holy Ghost was imparted to them, 

It is a fact, therefore, worthy to be remembered, 
that the first great outpouring of the Holy Ghost 
under the Christian dispensation was an outpouring 
upon a congregation of worshipers, and not upon sep- 
arate individual followers of Christ. We learn from 
this that the richest and most abundant spiritual bless- 
ings are to be expected by assembled multitudes. 

It is the duty, therefore, as well as the privilege of 
the followers of Christ to be present at these services, 
and not only to be present at them, but to take part 
in them. This can be done, so far as public prayer is 
concerned, only by yielding the soul to the spirit of the 



ATTENDANCE UPON THE ORDINANCES. 127 



prayer, seconding its confessions, its thanksgivings, and 
its supplications, silently or by approving responses. 
In the service of public praise all who have voice can 
unite. " Let the people praise thee, O God," says the 
Psalmist ; and then, as if to give no excuse for leaving 
this part of the service to a few, he adds, " Let all the 
people praise thee." (Psa. lxvii, 5.) His very last 
words were : ' 6 Let every thing that hath breath praise 
the Lord. Praise ye the Lord." (Psa. cl, 6.) The 
Discipline says, ' ' As singing is a part of divine wor- 
ship in which all ought to unite, therefore exhort 
every person in the congregation to sing, not one in 
ten only." 

2. " The ministry of the Word, either read or ex- 
pounded" The priests and the Levites were the first 
religious teachers among the J ews ; but their work of 
teaching was secondary to their work about the altar. 
In the course of time other teachers sprang up ; and 
after the Babylonish captivity the w ork of teaching be- 
came quite prominent. Every synagogue had its 
rabbi, who was a public teacher, and on every Sabbath 
the Sacred Scriptures were read and expounded by 
him in the hearing of the people, in connection with 
the services of prayer and praise. Christ appointed, 
as the public teachers of the new dispensation, minis- 
ters of the Gospel. He gave them their commission 
just before his ascension, in these words : " Go ye into 
all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." 
(Mark xvi, 15.) Their work began on the day of 



128 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



Pentecost. It has continued, more or less earnestly 
and effectively, from that day to the present. By 
means of it, chiefly, has the canse of Christ been pro- 
moted among men ; and by means of it, chiefly, is the 
work of the full, complete, and final establishment of 
Christ's kingdom on earth to be accomplished. The 
Church could not be sustained in the simplicity of a 
true Christian faith and character without it. When- 
ever and wherever the work of the preacher has been 
made of secondary importance in the house of God, 
the spirit of true religion has declined, and the people 
have been led into errors and superstitions. Christ 
knew the necessity for this work, and hence its institu- 
tion by him under the most solemn and impressive cir- 
cumstances. Nothing can take its place. 

The object of this work is, not only to instruct men 
in the principles of the Christian religion, but also to 
keep them constantly reminded of then- needs, of their 
duties, of then- obligations, of their privileges ; and con- 
stantly stimulated in the pursuit of truth and holiness. 
It is the divinely appointed way of enlightening the 
world, and of establishing the Church in righteous- 
ness ; and no one who professes faith in Christ can 
neglect it without unfaithfulness to the obligations 
of a Christian life, and injury to his own soul. The 
instrument in this work is human, but the message 
is divine, and every reverent attendant upon the de- 
livery of the message helps to make it more effective, 
and thus, in a certain sense, becomes a minister of the 
truth himself. 



ATTENDANCE UPON THE ORDINANCES. 129 



3. " The Sapper oftlie Lord." It has already been 
shown, that, while baptism is the sacrament which is 
administered to those who offer to connect themselves, 
by a profession of faith in Christ, with the people of 
God, the Lord's-supper is the sacrament which is ad- 
ministered to those who have already become thus con- 
nected with them. Baptism is a privilege offered by 
the Church to penitent believers who stand at its 
door, asking admission into its fellowship ; the Lord's- 
supper is a privilege reserved for those who have 
passed through the door. 

Baptism was designed to be administered once ; the 
Lord's-supper frequently. The phrases, ' ' as oft as ye 
eat," and "as oft as ye drink," leave it to the followers 
of Christ themselves to say how often they will partake 
of this sacred ordinance. Love to God and to Christ 
should induce every one who has professed faith in 
Christ to partake of it as often as the opportunity for 
so doing is afforded. The Methodist Church expects 
this of all persons whom she receives into member- 
ship in her communion. 

The mind of the Spirit on the subject of attendance 
upon the ordinances of the house of God is expressed 
in these words : ' 'And let us consider one another, to 
provoke unto love and to good works ; not forsaking 
the assembling of ourselves together, as the man- 
ner of some is, but exhorting one another; and so 
much the more as ye see the day approaching." (Heb. 
x, 24, 25.) 



130 ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



Chapter^ XIX. 

FAMILY AND PRIVATE DEVOTIONS. 
UT public religious services, however important, 



can never serve as a substitute for family and 
private devotions. These, as has already been stated, 
were observed before public services were instituted. 
All the patriarchs observed them. And the observ- 
ance of them did not cease after the institution of 
public services. The institution of the latter was an 
addition to, not a substitute for, the former. Joshua, 
toward the close of his life, in speaking to the people 
on the subject of then relations and duties to God, 
said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the 
Lord," meaning thereby that, even if all the rest of 
the people should neglect the service of the Lord, so 
that there should cease to be a public altar, a public 
priesthood, public sacrifices, and public prayers and 
praises, he and his household would still continue to 
worship and serve God. 

Family and private devotions are necessary to the 
keeping up of religion in the family and in the souls 
of individual men and women. Our religion will be 
little better than a name, if we do not cultivate it 
daily, by prayer, by searching the Scriptures, and, 
from time to time, by fasting or abstinence. Fasting 




FAMILY AND PRIVATE DEVOTION. 131 



or abstinence can not purify the soul, but it tends to 
bring us to a remembrance of our dependence upon 
God. 

The first thing that a Christian should do after 
rising from bed in the morning, should be to remem- 
ber God, and to bow down before him. and make 
grateful acknowledgments to him for his protecting 
care during the night ; and the last thing that a Chris- 
tian should do at night, should be to bow down before 
God, and thank him for the mercies of the day, ask 
his pardon for any sins committed, and invoke a re- 
newal of his watchful care and protection for the night ; 
connecting with each act of devotion of this kind, the 
reading of one or two chapters in the Sacred Scriptures. 
He ought, also, to thank God, at the table, and invoke 
his blessing upon the food of which he is about to par- 
take. How, otherwise, can he expect to be sustained 
and comforted from day to day, in the midst of the 
difficulties, the cares, and the temptations of fife? 

Such ought to be the course of every follower of 
Christ. But the heads of families owe a duty, in this 
respect, not only to themselves, but also to those 
whom God has committed to their care and guidance. 
In discussing the subject of the baptism of young 
children, the responsibility of parents for the proper 
care and training of their children was spoken of. 
Who can properly estimate the magnitude of that 
responsibility? The words of instruction, exhortation, 



132 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



and command which we utter to our children will be 
of little avail, if w T e fail to show, by our example, that 
we are in love with the religion which we endeavor to 
lead them to cultivate. If we say to our children that 
they ought to love' God, ought to take his word as a 
lamp to their feet and as a light to their path, ought 
to take pleasure in his service, our words will seem 
idle, unless we show by our acts that we, ourselves, love 
God, that we take his word as a lamp to our feet and a 
light to our path, that w T e take pleasure in his service. 

Who can tell how many children have been lost to 
virtue, to honor, and to God, from the homes of 
parents professing to love God, in consequence of the 
absence of the family altar, and the failure to make 
the word of God prominent in the reading of the 
family circle ? And who can tell, on the other hand, 
how many have been saved, by means of influences of 
this kind, who would, otherwise, have been lost? 

Family and private religious services are the surest 
tests of piety. Attendance upon public religious serv- 
ices may be kept up for a long time, from motives of 
policy or from mere habit, when a spirit of devotion 
no longer exists. But family and private devotions are 
not likely to be continued for a long time after the love 
of God has ceased to exist in the soul. The motives 
for the observance of the forms of religion in the pri- 
vacy of one's own home are fewer and simpler than 
they are for the observance of the forms in the house 
of God ; and one may begin to suspect that the love of 
God is dying out in his soul when he finds himself 



FAMILY AND PRIVATE DEVOTIONS. 



133 



strongly inclined to neglect the family altar and the 
Word of God, or to cease to make his devotions to 
God, night and morning, where none but God and the 
members of his own family can see him. 



134 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



dfyiptei' XX. 

FINANCES— THE SUPPORT OF THE GOSPEL AND 
THE BENEVOLENT ENTERPRISES OF 
THE CHURCH. 

T I ^HERE has never been a time when there has not 
been need of money to sustain the institutions of 
the Church. It would be easy to say that God could 
sustain them in a miraculous manner. But it is an 
undoubted fact that he has not seen proper to do so, 
but that he has deemed it best to lay the burden of this 
work upon the shoulders of those who profess to love 
him. It is one way in which he enables them to afford 
evidence of their love to him, and to convince the 
world that there is a motive power in Christian experi- 
ence which excels any other. 

A certain percentage of every man's income was 
required under the Mosaic dispensation. While such 
is not the case under the Christian dispensation, there 
is no upward limit, any more than there is a downward 
limit, to the amount that a person may give to pro- 
mote the cause of Christ. There are two things to be 
considered in all our giving ; the one is the greatness 
and urgency of God's claims upon us, and the other 
our ability. Our ability must depend upon various 
things. No rule can be laid down either as to the 



FINANCES. 



135 



amount or as to the percentage of income to be given 
by any two men. This principle, however, is clearly 
taught in the Scriptures; that is, that a man should 
feel what he gives. It is best expressed in the words 
of David, wdien he desired to make an offering unto 
the Lord, at the threshing-floor of Araunah. Araunah 
offered to give to David all that he needed, to enable 
him to make a suitable offering unto the Lord. David 
refused to accept the- gift, saying, c ' Nay ; but I will 
surely buy it of thee at a price ; neither will I offer 
burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which 
cloth cost me nothing." (2 Sam. xxiv, 24.) The first 
object to which the Christian is called upon to contrib- 
ute is 

The Support of the Gospel. Without this, the 
life of the Church could not be sustained, In the 
Methodist Church "an estimating committee, consist- 
ing of three or more members of the Church," is ap- 
pointed by the last quarterly conference of each pas- 
toral charge, in each conference year, whose duty it is, 
6 ' after conferring with " the preacher who may be ap- 
pointed as pastor of the charge for the succeeding 
conference year, ' ' to make an estimate of the amount 
necessary to furnish a comfortable support" to him, 
' 6 taking into consideration the number and condition " 
of his family, and report the estimate thus made to 
the first quarterly conference of the new year, for its 
approval or alteration. To the amount thus fixed for 
the support of the preacher in charge the amounts 



136 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



apportioned for the support of the presiding elder and 
the bishops are added ; and then it is made the duty of 
the stewards of the Church to "provide by such meth- 
ods as they may judge best to meet " these claims. 

In different congregations different methods are 
pursued. The aim should be, and usually is, to divide 
the burdens of these claims as equitably as possible. 
Iso method that could be adopted could be effectual 
in securing exactly what would be just and right from 
each member of the Church and congregation. It will 
always be the case that some members will contribute 
more and others less than their just proportion of 
what may be needed. No one but God is able to 
know exactly what each one ought to give. In some 
of our Churches a large part of the amounts thus 
needed is derived, through the hands of the trustees, 
from the rent of the pews. This is not generally the 
case, however ; the most of our Churches depend upon 
the voluntary contributions of the people for the sup- 
port of the Gospel. Usually the stewards of the 
Church, or a committee appointed for the purpose, 
who know the amounts required, and also the relative 
abilities of the different members of the Church and 
congregation, say what they think each individual is 
able and willing to pay, and then leave the matter, 
for final judgment and decision, to the individual him- 
self. Practice and experience have shown that the 
easiest way, for all concerned, of paying the amount 
thus agreed to is by weekly offerings, in envelopes dis- 
tributed for the purpose. 



FINANCES. 



137 



The expenses of the Sunday-schools are usually 
met by means of collections taken up in the schools. 
The methods adopted for raising the amounts necessary 
to meet the expenses of sexton's hire and of fuel and 
lights are various. These all have to be met in some 
way, however ; and the simplest and most direct way 
has usually been found to be the easiest and the best. 

The Benevolent Enterprises of the Church. 
One of the great objects for which the Church was 
established was that it might be an instrument in the 
hands of God in the redemption of the world from 
its ignorance, its sin, and its misery. And every 
Church organization that has the mind of Christ must, 
in the nature of things, be a working Church, and 
must have something more in view than the mere 
maintenance of its own existence. The Methodist 
Episcopal Church desires to do its part in promoting 
the accomplishment of the will of God among men; 
and to this end it has established, and is endeavoring 
to sustain, several benevolent enterprises. They are 
as follows : 

1. The aid of worn-out preachers and of the widows 
and children of deceased preachers. Methodist preachers 
have rarely been so fortunate as to receive for their 
services more than a bare sufficiency for their immedi- 
ate temporary necessities. Very few T of them have 
ever been able to lay up any thing for old age, while 
many of them have suffered, in consequence of inad- 
equate support, even in the years of their greatest 



138 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



activity and strength. The result has been that many 
of them have felt the pinches of extreme poverty in 
their old age, and, in dying, have been compelled to 
commit their families to the charity of relatives and 
friends. It is with the view of relieving, as much as 
possible, the necessities of such persons that the Church 
has directed the raising of annual collections for their 
benefit.* The amounts raised are small compared with 
the number and wants of the beneficiaries. Each 
annual conference receives the amounts raised within 
its own bounds, and distributes them according to the 
necessities of the claimants on its list. The claims are 
usually placed at the lowest possible amount, and even 
then are rarely ever met in full. What each claimant 
receives goes but a very little way toward affording 
him or her an actual support. 

It should be a pleasure to every member of the 
Church who places any value upon the services of the 
ministers of Christ in general, and especially to every 
one who remembers with pleasure the services of those 
at whose hands he has received spiritual benefit, to 
contribute liberally to this worthy object. 

2. The Missionary Society. The cause of missions 
is the cause of Christ. The last command that Christ 
gave, before ascending into heaven, was that the Gos- 
pel should be preached among all nations. The Meth- 
odist Church was, in its birth, a missionary Church, 
and it has from the first been distinguished for its 
missionary spirit. It has ever sought to carry the 
Gospel to those to whom it had not been preached. 



FINANCES. 



139 



But, besides doing what it can in this direction, by 
general efforts it seeks to aid in the accomplishment of 
this end by means of a society known as the ' ' Mis- 
sionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church." 
This society was organized in 1819. Its operations 
have been carried on by means of collections taken up 
annually in our congregations and Sunday-schools, the 
Sunday-schools being organized into Sunday-school mis- 
sionary societies. The work of the society was at first 
small. It has gradually enlarged until it has attained 
to very great proportions. By means of it the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church has been established in Europe, 
Asia, Africa, and South America, and in the most re- 
mote parts of our own land. The progress of the 
work has been especially rapid during the last twenty 
or twenty-five years, and the prospect is that it will be 
more rapid in the years to come. New fields are open- 
ing up almost every year. Men qualified to occupy 
these fields are constantly offering their services to the 
society. What is needed is the money with which to 
send these men forth and support them. This must 
be contributed by the friends of the cause ; in other 
words, by the friends of Christ who are connected with 
our Churches and congregations. 

3. The Sunday-school Union. This society was or- 
ganized in 1827. It was reorganized in 1840. Its 
objects are the advancement of the interests and the 
promotion of the cause of Sunday-schools in connec- 
tion with the Methodist Episcopal Church. By means 
of the collections taken up for it annually in our con- 



140 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



gregations, it aids in establishing Sunday-schools in 
places where they have not already been established, 
in sustaining feeble schools by supplying them with 
books and requisites, in diffusing Sunday-school intelli- 
gence throughout the Church, and in otherwise pro- 
moting the cause of Sunday-school instruction. 

4. The Tract Society. The object of this Society is 
the publication and distribution of a cheap religious 
literature in the form of tracts. These tracts contain 
important truths, and are the means of accomplishing 
much good. Every Church that takes up ' ' a collec- 
tion for the Sunday-school Union and the Tract 
Society, contributing an equal amount to each, and 
forwarding the same to the Treasurer, at New York," 
is ' ' entitled, upon the order of the pastor, to one-third 
of the whole amount of the two collections in tract 
publications for gratuitous distribution, provided that 
this order be sent within six months after the collec- 
tion is taken." 

5. The Church Extension Society. This Society was 
organized in 1864. The object of it is to aid feeble 
congregations in the erection of houses of worship, aud 
embarrassed congregations in redeeming from debt 
houses already erected. It does this partly by dona- 
tions, and partly by loans. It has been the means of 
affording the benefits of regular and stated ministra- 
tions of the Gospel to many hundreds of localities 
where without its aid these benefits would not have 
been enjoyed, and of securing the continuance of these 
benefits in many localities where except for its aid, 



FINANCES. 



141 



they would have ceased to be enjoyed. Its work is 
not confined to any particular parts of the country; 
its helping hand has been extended to all parts of 
the land, though its greatest' benefits have heen real- 
ized in the North-west, the West, and the South. It 
has strong claims upon the liberality of the members 
and friends of our Church. Every pastor is required 
to take up a public collection for its support annually. 

6. The Freedmen's Aid Society. This society was 
organized in 1866. It has for its object, primarily, 
the education of the colored people of the South. To 
this end it has established various institutions of learn- 
ing in the South. These institutions are annually 
sending out young colored men and women more or 
less highly educated to spread the influences of educa- 
tion among the less fortunate of their own race. Some 
of the young men sent out devote themselves to the 
work of preaching the Gospel, while many of both 
sexes become teachers. The General Conference of 
1880 so interpreted the constitution of this society as 
to make it possible for schools for the whites in the 
South to be aided from its funds, in so far as this 
could be done without detriment to the schools estab- 
lished and sustained by it for the colored people. The 
work of the* society is highly important, not only in 
respect to the interests of the Church, but also in re- 
spect to the interests of the country. A collection is 
required to be taken up, in aid of its funds, in all our 
Churches annually. 

7. The Cause of Education. In 1866 collections were 



142 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



taken up for this cause. In 1868 a Board of Educa- 
tion was created, whose duty it was made to receive 
the funds thus raised, together with all other moneys 
which might thereafter be raised for the same purpose, 
and to expend the interest accruing on the same, from 
year to year, in aiding young men who might be pre- 
paring themselves for the ministry. In addition to 
what is raised in the public congregations for this 
cause, collections are taken up in our Sunday-schools 
on the second Sunday in June, in each year, in aid 
of the " Sunday-school Fund" of the Board of Educa- 
tion. The day thus set apart is called " Children's 
Day." 

8. The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. This 
society was organized in 1869. It seemed to be a 
necessity, as an auxiliary to * ' The Missionary Society 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church." In certain 
Asiatic countries, the native women seldom appear in 
public, and, hence, seldom hear the Gospel preached. 
If they come to a knowledge of Christ at all, it must 
be by hearing the Scriptures read and explained to 
them in the privacy of then own homes. To meet 
this difficulty, the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society 
was organized. The society sends out to those coun- 
tries young ladies as teachers and Bible readers, with 
the view of reaching this class of persons. Some of 
the young ladies sent out by the society enjoy the 
advantage of having graduated at medical colleges in 
this country. This gives them the more easy access to 
the persons whom they wish to reach. The society 



FINANCES. 



143 



has already accomplished much good, and is likely to 
accomplish much more. The funds of this society are 
raised, not by collections in the Churches, but by 
private methods. This method has been adopted 
in order that there may not be two collections taken 
in the Churches for the cause of Missions, and that 
the new society may not, to any extent, take the 
place of the old in its claims upon the liberality of the 
congregations. 

9. The American Bible Society. The enterprises 
already named are under the management and control 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. There is another 
society which, though not under its management and 
control, it is proper to place in the list of its benevo- 
lent enterprises. It is "The American Bible Society." 
This society is supported by several of the evangelical 
denominations of Christians in the United States, of 
w T hich the Methodist Episcopal Church is one. The 
translation of the Scriptures which it uses is the one 
in common use among English-speaking Christians. 
There is a Bible Society in this country which pub- 
lishes a translation of the Scriptures with the word 
immerse substituted for the word baptize in every place 
in which the latter occurs in the common translation. 
This society is known by the name of "The American 
Bible Union." Its friends have sometimes endeavored 
to leave the impression upon the minds of those not 
well informed on the subject that in some way the 
Methodist Episcopal Church has something to do with 
the work of the "Union." This is a mistake. The 



144 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



only Bible Society for whose work the Methodist 
Episcopal Church is, to any extent, responsible, is the 
American Bible Society. To this society it gives its 
countenance, and in aid of the work of this society 
collections are taken up in many of our congregations 
annually. 

Occasionally appeals are made to the liberality of 
the members of our Churches and congregations in 
aid of other objects, but the objects which have been 
named are the ones for which appeals are expected 
to be regularly and statedly made. 

It is not to be supposed that every member will 
be able to contribute much to each of these objects. 
All that is expected is, that each one will contribute 
according to his ability. It is well for each member 
to look over the list, at the beginning of each confer- 
ence year, and to form an estimate of what he will 
most likely be able to contribute to each of the objects 
during the year, and then to endeavor to give the 
amounts estimated, as the claims of the objects are 
presented. 



THE HISTORY OF METHODISM. 



145 



C^kptef XXI. 

THE HISTORY OF METHODISM. 
10KMEKLY the Romish Church held sway in 



-*7 England, and the authority of the pope, its head, 
was recognized there by people and king. In 1535 
the authority of the pope was repudiated, and a sepa- 
ration took place, by which the Church in England 
became independent of the Church of Rome, with the 
king as its temporal head. 

But as the separation was the result less of doc- 
trinal and spiritual than of personal and political 
considerations, the Church in England did not differ 
greatly after the separation from what it had been 
before. In name it was a new Church, the Church 
of England; but in its spirit and practices it still bore 
a striking resemblance to the body from which it had 
separated. The antagonisms which existed between the 
two Churches, together with the spirit of the Reforma- 
tion which was abroad, tended to give to the new 
organization a new character, but the improvement 
was of slow progress, so that, even at the end of two 
hundred years from the time of the separation, there 
was still great need of a reformation among the people 
and the clergy of England. 

The men avIio were raised up by Providence to be 




10 



146 ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 

the chief instruments in inaugurating and carrying 
forward this important work were the Keys. John and 
Charles Wesley and the Rev. George Whitefield. The 
Rev. John Wesley was bom A. D. 1703, and his 
brother Charles A. D. 1708. They were sons of a 
clergyman of the Church of England. The Rev. 
George Whitefield was born A. D. 1714; he was the 
son of an innkeeper in Bristol. All three were grad- 
uates of the University of Oxford, and all three men 
of marked piety and ability. The Rev. John Wesley 
was a man of very deep and extensive learning, of a 
very magnanimous, earnest, and self-sacrificing spirit, 
and of very distinguished administrative abilities. His 
brother Charles was not less scholarly, but was more 
ardent as a public speaker, and was wonderfully gifted 
as a writer of sacred hymns. Whitefield, the youngest 
of the three, was less scholarly than either of the others, 
and less able in the management of affairs, but excelled 
in pulpit eloquence. 

John Wesley, being the eldest of the three, gradu- 
ated first, and was at once elected to a fellowship, and 
appointed to take charge of certain important classes 
in the university. In 1729, while occupying his fel- 
lowship and engaged in the work of instructing his 
classes, he, his brother Charles, who was then a student 
in the university, and two other young men, likewise 
students, began to devote a certain part of their time 
every week to the study of the Greek Testament. 
Very soon they began to visit the Oxford prison, for the 
purpose of imparting religious instruction to its inmates; 



THE HISTORY OF METHODISM. 



147 



and then they added to this work that of hunting up 
the poor and the sick, with the view of relieving, as 
far as they were able, the necessities of such persons, 
and of affording to them the consolations of religion. 

After a short time, other students were added to 
the little society, and it began to attract attention, and 
to be styled, in derision, by those who did not sympa- 
thize with its members in their pious works, " the 
Holy Club," while to its members the title of " Meth- 
odists " began to be applied. 

John Wesley, on account both of his maturer age 
and of his superior qualifications for the position, was 
recognized by the members themselves, and also by 
others, as the leader of the little band. 

The opposition to the society was, at times, very 
great — so great, indeed, that some of its members be- 
came discouraged, and ceased to take part in its work. 
The Wesleys and a few others stood firm, believing 
that they were in the way of duty, and, therefore, in 
the way of the divine approval and blessing. 

In 1735 the Wesleys were solicited by Governor 
Oglethorpe to go with him to Georgia, in company 
with a body of emigrants that he was about to take 
thither to strengthen a colony that had been estab- 
lished there hi 1733. Hoping to find in the New 
World, among the colonists and the Indians, a field in 
which their ardent zeal might have ample room for 
exercise, they yielded to the solicitations of the gov- 
ernor, and set sail for America. 

Whitefield, who had previously to this time entered 



148 ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



the university, and had become an earnest and ardent 
member of " the Holy Club," was left as its leader on 
the departure of the Wesleys for their new field of 
labor. 

The expectations of the Wesleys were not realized 
in Georgia. It soon became evident that the colony 
was not a suitable place for their labors. They suf- 
fered many hardships and vexations, and accomplished 
almost nothing with the Indians, and very little more 
with the colonists. Charles returned to England at 
the end of twelve months, and John at the end of 
twenty-seven. 

But though their going to Georgia had seemed to 
be almost without appreciable results, so far as their 
labors as missionaries there were concerned, it was, 
nevertheless, in the end, to prove not to have been 
without benefit to themselves. Among the emigrants 
with whom they had made the voyage thither were 
some members of the Moravian Church. From their 
observation of the conduct of these persons during a 
storm, and from conversations with them afterwards, 
both on shipboard and on shore, the brothers had be- 
come convinced that there is a depth of religious expe- 
rience possible to Christians to which they themselves 
had not attained, and they had at once begun to 
seek it. 

While their minds had been thus exercised in 
Georgia, Whitefield's mind had been exercised in the 
same way in England, and some little time after the 
return of Charles, but before the return of John, he 



THE HISTORY OF METHODISM. 



149 



had realized the joys of the richer and deeper experi- 
ence toward which the three had been tending. 

John Wesley returned to England with his mind 
almost wholly occupied with thoughts on this import- 
ant subject. He found Whitefield gone to America, 
on an invitation extended to him by himself just be- 
fore he had made up his mind to leave Georgia. He 
turned his thoughts to the Moravians, and immedi- 
ately set off for Herrnhut, the principal place of their 
residence, in Germany, where he spent several weeks, 
mingling and worshiping with them, and studying their 
doctrinal views and their religious life. 

Only a short time elapsed, after his return from 
Germany, before both he and his brother Charles ex- 
perienced that for which they had been seeking. Their 
hearts became more ardently warmed with love to 
God, and their religious duties were transformed into 
religious pleasures. 

Meanwhile Whitefield, having found, on reaching 
Georgia, that his friend had returned to England, re- 
mained there but a short time, and was now on his 
way home. Very soon he and the Wesleys were to- 
gether, rejoicing in the same experience of a deep and 
tender love to God. 

They began to preach with unwonted earnestness 
and unction. They emphasized the doctrines of re- 
pentance for sins, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
regeneration, the witness of the Spirit, and a life of 
holiness and self-denial. 

These doctrines, though plainly taught in the Sacred 



150 ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 

Scriptures, had received very little attention from the 
clergymen of that clay. The result was that, to many 
persons, the three evangelists seemed to be preachers 
of a new Gospel. A few of the clergymen welcomed 
them as messengers of God ; but the greater num- 
ber gave them no encouragement, while not a few bit- 
terly opposed them. Crowds, however, assembled to 
hear them, and the people made their preaching the 
subject of common conversation in their families and 
at their places of business. 

In 1739 Whitefield w T ent to Bristol, Ms native 
place, to preach. At first he was received into the 
pulpits of the city very cordially. But his zeal, while 
it attracted large congregations of people to the serv- 
ices conducted by him, found no sympathetic response 
in the hearts of his fellow-clergymen ; and in a very 
short time he found the doors of the churches closed 
against him. 

What should he do? Clergymen in those days 
seldom preached elsewhere than in churches. The 
churches were no longer open to him. And yet a dis- 
pensation of the Gospel had been committed to him, 
and he must preach somewhere. Near Bristol were 
the Kingswood coal-mines. The colliers were a de- 
praved and neglected class of men, having very little 
regard for morality or religion, some of them, prob- 
ably, scarcely knowing that they had souls to be saved. 
He went thither, and preached to them under the open 
heavens. It seemed to them a strange thing that a 
graduate of Oxford and a man of eloquence should 



THE HISTORY OF METHODISM. 



151 



come to them with a message of salvation. But he 
secured their attention and their good-will. His first 
sermon to them was preached on the seventeenth day of 
February, 1739. This was the beginning of out-door 
preaching. The audiences increased in size daily. 
Before the meetings were brought to a close the num- 
bers in attendance reached as high as fifteen or twenty 
thousand. 

The people of Bristol now invited him to return to 
them, and preach to them in the open air. He did so. 
The crowds which came together there were equal in 
size to those that had listened to him at the coal-mines, 
and many souls were converted. He needed help, and 
wrote to Mr. John Wesley to come to his assistance. 
Mr. Wesley reached Bristol on the last day of April, 
and on the second day of May took charge of the meet- 
ings. So great were the results that on the twelfth day 
of May he laid the corner-stone for a chapel in which he 
and such as sympathized with him in his views could 
worship God without regard to the wishes of their ene- 
mies. It is noticeable as a most important fact in 
Methodist history, therefore, that the corner-stone of 
the first Methodist chapel in the world was laid in 
Bristol, England, on the twelfth day of May, 1739. 
It was a beginning whose end no man can tell. 

Shortly after the arrival of John Wesley at Bris- 
tol, Whitefield turned the work there over to him, 
and went to Wales, to preach the Gospel there. 
He returned to London in time to be of service to 
Charles Wesley. The latter, following the example of 



152 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



Whitefield and his brother John, had also begun to 
preach in the open air. His doing so was an offense to 
the archbishop, who threatened to excommunicate him 
if he continued it. Whitefield urged him not to de- 
sist, but to follow the indications of Providence ; and, 
accordingly, the next day he preached in Moorfields — 
a common on the outskirts of London, to an audience, 
it is said, of ten thousand persons. 

The great revival was now fully begun. The men 
who had it in hand had found their work. They 
preached wherever they found audiences, and the effect 
of their preaching at different places was wonderful. 
They expected immediate results, and were not disap- 
pointed in seeing them. So rapid and earnest were 
their movements that it was but a short time after 
their first remarkable work at Bristol before their 
names were known in almost all parts of England as 
the great revivalists of the day. 

As the work went forward, the particular part that 
each of the three great workmen was to perforin began 
to appear. The individuality of each was marked, and 
each began to fall naturally and easily into his proper 
place. Whitefield, full of fire and zeal, was ever on 
the wing. In August he sailed for America, where 
he preached with wonderful effect in its prominent 
cities and towns, stirring the hearts of thousands, but 
doing nothing in the way of gathering and preserving 
the fruits of his labors. The Wesleys were differently 
constituted. They remained in England, laboring in 
a more regular and methodical way, and organizing 



THE HISTOEY OF METHODISM. 153 



societies in different parts of the country, John leading 
in all the work, and Charles seconding and assisting 
him in his movements. 

From the first, the brothers had the countenance, 
and to some extent the aid, of a very small number 
of regularly ordained clergymen of the Church of 
England. But the rapid increase of the societies very 
soon made it necessary for them to look to others than 
their fellow-clergymen for help. The different socie- 
ties were divided into classes, and chosen men ap- 
pointed over them with the title of class-leaders. 
These leaders, though not preachers, exercised a kind 
of spiritual oversight over the members of their classes, 
visiting them when sick, and advising them in spiritual 
matters. 

Very frequently, in the absence of the preacher, a 
class-leader would take charge of the prayer-meetings, 
and sometimes would utter a few words of exhortation 
to the people. Nothing beyond this was thought of. 
But soon one of the leaders, Thomas Maxfield, took a 
text and expounded it to the people. Mr. Wesley 
was absent at the time. On hearing of what had been 
done, he was displeased, and returned, ready to con- 
demn the leader for this assumption of ministerial 
authority. At that time Mr. Wesley was a High- 
churchman, and regarded it as a great offense for any 
person not regularly ordained to declare the word of 
life to the people. His mother, who was a remarka- 
bly wise woman, met him, and advised him to listen 
to Maxfield himself before deciding to condemn him. 



154 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



He did so, and became satisfied that the young class- 
leader had been called of God to preach the Gospel, 
and he gave him license to continue to exercise his 
gifts in that way whenever there should seem to be a 
demand for his services. 

This was the beginning of lay preaching. Mr. 
Wesley looked upon it as an indication of Providence 
to him; and very soon, as the necessities of the work 
required it, he authorized other laymen, whose piety 
and abilities justified him in selecting them, to take 
their places in the pulpits of the chapels. 

At first, and for a long time, none of these men 
were ordained ; and they did not administer the sacra- 
ments. .All that they did was to preach the Gospel. 
Without them, however, Mr. Wesley would never 
have been able to carry forward the work which God 
had committed to his leadership. 

Mr. Whitefield, after spending a short time in 
America, returned to England. While in America he 
had mingled more with Calvinistic ministers than with 
those of his own Church, and had become affected with 
their views. The Calvinism that was preached in that 
day was very much stronger than that which is 
preached in this, and perfect accord between a Cal- 
vinistic minister and one of Arminian views was 
almost impossible. The Wesleys were Arminians. 
The result was that the perfect accord which had ex- 
isted between Mr. Whitefield and them was disturbed, 
and Calvinistic as well as Arminian societies were, 
from that time, organized. Whitefield himself did very 



THE HISTORY OF METHODISM. 



155 



little in the way of organizing societies or of taking 
care of those organized under his influence. He, as 
has already been intimated, had very little talent or 
taste for any thing but preaching: and, besides, he 
spent a great part of his time in America. The over- 
sight of the Calvinistic societies fell to Lady Hunt- 
ingdon, a pious Calvinistic Methodist, who devoted a 
large fortune to efforts to promote their prosperity. 
These societies became most numerous and most pros- 
perous in Wales. After the death of Lady Hunting- 
don, Calvinistic Methodism ceased . to be aggressive. 
It is now almost unknown outside of Great Britain. 

The Arminian, or Wesley an, societies received less 
patronage from wealth, but they had a more steady 
and vigorous growth. It is Arminian Methodism that 
has extended into various parts of the world outside 
of Great Britain, and that has attained to the greatest 
numbers and influence there. 

At the end of five years from the time of the com- 
mencement of out-door preaching, near Bristol, the 
progress made in establishing these societies had been 
so great that it was deemed necessary for the preachers 
who were co-operating with Mr. Wesley to be brought 
together for consultation. They were convened in the 
Foundry Chapel, London, on the 25th of June, 1744. 
This was the first Methodist conference ever held. 
Those who composed it were John Wesley, Charles Wes- 
ley, John Hodges, Henry Piers, Samuel Taylor, and 
John Meriton, clergymen; and Thomas Maxfield, 
Thomas Richards., John Bennet, and John Downes, lay 



156 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



preachers, ten in all. John Wesley presided. The sub- 
jects considered were doctrines and discipline. The pro- 
ceedings of the conference were intermingled with 
prayer. The conclusions reached by those present were, 
that they would continue to devote the most of the time 
occupied by them in preaching, to an explanation and 
enforcement of the docrines of repentance, faith, justi- 
fication, regeneration, and sanctification ; and, secondly, 
that they would observe the canons of the Church — 
that is, the rules of the Church of England — as far 
as they could do so without subjecting themselves to 
any restraint which would hinder them in the work of 
preaching the Gospel to the people wherever they 
found them willing to hear it. 

The conference adjourned with prayer; and its 
members went forth to a renewal of their labors, be- 
lieving that the work that had thus far been accom- 
plished had been accomplished under divine direction, 
and willing to put themselves in the hands of God for 
future guidance and usefulness. . 

It is much easier to read about heroes than to be 
heroes. Those men deserved the title. Success con- 
stantly attended their efforts ; but it was success in the 
face of the greatest difficulties. They were constantly 
riding or walking, to fill their appointments. They 
frequently slept in the open air, and rarely enjoyed the 
comforts of life. They were subjected to abuse of 
almost every kind ; were cursed, were bespattered with 
dirt, were pelted with rotten eggs, were stoned, were 
dragged before magistrates, and charged with stirring 



THE HISTORY OF METHODISM. 157 

up sedition; were commanded to desist from preach- 
ing. Mobs sometimes gathered about the houses 
where they were preaching or staying, and threatened 
to tear them down. The newspapers were full of 
misrepresentations of their motives and their work. 
Indeed, there was scarcely any indignity possible to 
men in their positions that they were not compelled 
to suffer. Some of the lay preachers were seriously 
injured in their persons. Others were pressed into the 
army; but they displayed such valor, and, at the 
same time, were so patient, and so observant of all 
the duties of soldiers, that they won the respect of 
their officers and of their fellow-soldiers. 

The piety and the zeal of such men could not go un- 
rewarded. Thousands of people who had not been in 
the habit of attending worship at the churches, became 
attendants upon the services at the Methodist chapels 
(for so the Methodist houses of worship were called, 
to distinguish them from the churches, or houses of 
worship, belonging to the Church of England) ; and 
many persons who had been in the habit of attending 
the churches became alienated from them, in conse- 
quence of the opposition manifested by many of the 
clergymen to the Methodist movement, and cast in 
their lot with that of the Methodists. 

There was no effort made by those in authority in 
the Church of England to conciliate the Methodists. 
On the contrary, every thing that was done by them 
was calculated to offend and alienate the members of 
the Methodist societies. The consequence was that 



158 ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 

there began, in the course of time, to arise, in the 
minds of many of the Methodists, thoughts of a sepa- 
ration from the Church. This feeling increased with 
the lapse of time, and with the growth of the Metho- 
dist societies and the consequent growth of a distinct 
Methodist sentiment. 

Meanwhile the work of revival, and of forming 
and fostering societies went on. The responsibility of 
giving direction to the movement fell upon John 
Wesley. He presided at the conferences and ap- 
pointed the preachers to their circuits. He corre- 
sponded extensively with the preachers, encouraging 
the timid, and correcting the errors of the inexperi- 
enced and the ignorant. He wrote and published 
books and tracts. He defended the movement against 
the attacks which were constantly made upon it in 
the newspapers and in pamphlets. He was never idle, 
but labored constantly to meet the requirements of his 
position as leader in what was to prove to be the 
greatest moral and spiritual reformation of the eight- 
eenth and nineteenth centuries. His brother Charles 
did not less worthily perform his part. It was from 
the inspiration of his genius that the Methodist socie- 
ties became distinguished for the fervor, the spirituality, 
and the power, of their songs. He composed most of 
the hymns sung by them. The hymns written by 
him were expressive of the doctrines and ideas which 
were heard in the pulpits of the societies, and of the 
religious emotions which stirred the breasts of the 
members in their social meetings. 



THE HISTORY OF METHODISM. 



159 



As the work extended, and the differences between 
the Methodist societies and the Church of England 
increased, the services in the Methodist chapels became 
more regular and systematic. The members of the 
societies were compelled to resort to the churches of 
the Church of England for the sacraments, except 
when Mr. Wesley, or some other clergyman who was 
a Methodist, was with them in the chapels, as the lay 
preachers appointed by Mr. Wesley, as has been 
stated, were not at liberty to administer the sacraments. 
But year by year the preachers and the people of the 
societies felt less and less dependent upon the Church 
of England for their spiritual improvement. Increased 
attention was paid to the solidification of the societies. 
Love-feasts and class-meetings and band-meetings were 
held statedly. Financial plans were put into opera- 
tion for building chapels, for supporting the Gospel, 
and for aiding the poor ; and the hearts of the people 
were united in love for one another and for the 
preachers under whose zealous labors they had been 
brought to a knowledge of Christ. 

In several localities schools were established, and 
placed under the care of pious teachers. Everywhere 
the people were encouraged to read religious books. 
And the lay preachers, many of whom, though re- 
markably pure in their lives, and earnest in their 
efforts, had not received thorough educations, were 
required to pursue a course of studies, so as thereby 
the better to qualify themselves for the responsible 
duties to which they had been called. 



160 ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



In the course of a few years Methodist societies had 
been established in all parts of England, and in Wales 
and Ireland, and some of the lay preachers who had 
begun to preach with very limited qualifications for 
the work of the ministry, beyond an undoubted piety* 
and an ardent zeal, had, by diligence in the prosecu- 
tion of their studies, and in the work of the pulpit, 
become men of marked ability and influence. 

On the 30th of September, 1770, Mr. Whitefield 
died. He had spent a very large part of his active life 
in America ; and he breathed his last at Newburyport, 
Massachusetts. Whatever unpleasantness of feeling 
had existed, on his part, toward the Wesleys, in the 
first years of the differences which had sprung up be- 
tween him and them in regard to doctrinal questions, 
had been of short duration ; and, in dying, he left Mr. 
John Wesley a mourning ring, in token of his affection 
for him, with the request that he should preach his 
funeral sermon. Mr. Wesley complied with the re- 
quest, when the news reached him in England, in a 
most tender and impressive manner. 

Mr. Whitefield had been exceedingly popular in 
America, and had made a very profound impression 
upon the spiritual life of the Churches wherever he 
had preached ; but, in dying, he left no fruits of his 
labors among the colonies, in the form of organized 
societies. An effort was made, shortly after his death, 
by Ladv Huntingdon, to establish Calvinistic Method- 
ism in Georgia, but without success. The Methodism 
of America was not destined to be of that type. 



THE HISTORY OF METHODISM. 161 

In 1760, just ten years previous to the death of 
Mr. Whitefield, some emigrants from Ireland, who 
had been Wesieyan Methodists in their native country, 
had landed in New York. Among them was a man 
named Philip Embury. For a time, after having 
landed in the new world, Mr. Embury, deprived of 
the Methodist associations to which he had been accus- 
tomed in the Old World, had lost his interest in 
religion. In 1765 he was persuaded by Barbara Heck, 
another Methodist emigrant from the same neighbor- 
hood in Ireland, to hold religious services in his own 
house. He yielded to her persuasions. Soon the con- 
gregations became too large for the place, and another 
room was obtained. In 1768 a church was built — the 
first Methodist Church in America. 

About the time when Philip Embury began to hold 
public religious services in his own house in New 
York, another Methodist emigrant from Ireland, Rob- 
ert Strawbridge, began to hold similar services in Fred- 
erick, Maryland. 

Rejoiced to know that a door was opened for Armin- 
ian Methodism in America, Mr. Wesley, in 1769, just 
one year before the death of Mr. Whitefield, sent 
over two Methodist preachers from England, Richard 
Boardman and J oseph Pilmoor, to take charge of the 
work in America. In 1771 two other preachers were 
sent over by him, one of whom was Francis Asbury, 
a young man who was destined to act almost as prom- 
inent a part in promoting the work of God in America 
as Mr. Wesley was acting in England. 

11 



162 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



Mr. Wesley was now advancing in life, and, mean- 
while, the responsibility and care connected with the 
general oversight and management of the societies 
which had grown up on his hands, had greatly in- 
creased, and he was beginning to stand in need of spe- 
cial assistance in carrying forward the work which had 
thus far been so greatly blessed and prospered. That 
assistance was furnished. Men of extraordinary abili- 
ties were raised up by Providence. Two of them are 
worthy of special notice, the Rev. John Fletcher and 
the Rev. Dr. Thomas Coke. Mr. Fletcher was a man 
of singular purity of spirit, of remarkable excellency 
of scholarship, and of uncommon elegance, fluency, 
and force as a writer. He was especially useful in de- 
fending the views of Wesleyan Methodism against the 
attacks of Calvinism. Dr. Coke was a man of a very 
devout spirit, of thorough scholarship, of comprehen- 
sive and liberal views hi regard to the work of the 
Church, able, active, and energetic. He was especially 
distinguished for his missionary -spirit and efforts. His 
services and counsels were very highly esteemed by 
Mr. Wesley. 

When the war of the American Revolution broke 
out, the Methodist societies in America, having but 
recently begun to be established, were few in numbers 
and weak in influence. During the continuance of the 
war, it being impossible for them to look to England 
for help, they were thrown almost entirely upon their 
own resources. Nevertheless, the work of preaching 
the Gospel and of building up the societies already 



THE HISTORY OF METHODISM. 



163 



established, and of establishing new ones, was pushed 
forward with great activity during those eight years of 
conflict ; and at the close of the war it was found, not- 
withstanding the adverse influences under which the 
work had been prosecuted, that the number of Meth- 
odists in America had greatly increased. 

In 1784 Mr. Wesley appointed Dr. Coke and Mr. 
Asbury as superintendents or bishops of the Methodist 
societies in America. He himself ordained Dr. Coke, 
who was then in England, and directed him to proceed 
to America and ordain Mr. Asbury. Dr. Coke, ac- 
companied by two other ministers, whom Mr. Wesley 
had ordained as elders, came over, in the latter part of 
the same year. On the twenty-fourth day of December 
a conference was convened at Baltimore, Maryland. It 
closed its labors on the second day of January, 1785. 
It is generally known in the history of the Church as 
" the Christmas Conference." At this conference the 
Methodist societies in America were organized into 
"the Methodist Episcopal Church," and, the confer- 
ence approving the appointment which Mr. Wesley 
had made, Mr. Asbury was ordained by Dr. Coke 
joint superintendent, or bishop, with himself, of the 
new organization. 

The next year after these events Mr. Wesley, who 
was now quite aged, made this record in his journal : 
' ' I was now considering how strangely the grain of 
mustard-seed planted about fifty years ago had grown 
up. It spread through all Great Britain and Ireland, 
the Isle of Wight, and the Isle of Man ; then to Amer- 



164 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



ica, through the whole continent into Canada, the Lee- 
ward Islands, and Newfoundland. And the societies 
in all these parts walk by one rule, knowing religion is 
holy tempers and striving to worship God, not in form 
only, but likewise in spirit and in truth." 

Charles Wesley, though younger than his brother 
John, preceded the latter to the grave. He died on 
the 29th of March, 1788, in the eightieth year of his 
age. He was the hymn-writer of Methodism. His 
hymns are not excelled by those of any other writer 
in the English language. His last poetic utterance 
was dictated from his dying bed : 

"111 age and feebleness extreme, 
"Who snaU a sinful worm redeem ? 
Jesus, my only hope thou art, 
Strength of my failing flesh and heart ; 
O, could I catch a smile from thee, 
And drop into eternity !' ' 

In the year in which Charles Wesley died, a young 
man united with one of the Methodist societies, who 
afterwards became distinguished for his extensive learn- 
ing. That young man was Adam Clarke, afterwards 
known as Dr. Adam Clarke, the author of the Com- 
mentary which bears his name, and which has been 
extensively used, not only by Methodists, but also by 
many other students of the Bible. 

John Wesley was now far advanced in life. It has 
already been seen that, at a very early period in the 
revival movement, he had yielded somewhat of the 
High-church views with which he had started out in 
life, in calling to his assistance in the pulpit men who 
had not been ordained by the laying on of episcopal 



THE HISTORY OF METHODISM. 



165 



hands. As the work had gone forward, and he .had 
seen more and more of the evidences of the presence 
of God in connection with the use of less formal means 
than those for which the Church of England was dis- 
tinguished, he had become less and less rigid in his 
ecclesiastical views. He had listened to hear the voice 
of God in the wants of the people, and had never 
failed to respond to that voice, how far soever it might 
lead him away from the beaten tract of past usage, 
being at all times far more concerned to save souls than 
to observe any particular form in saving them. He 
retained his influence over the Methodist societies to 
the last. He attended his last conference in Bristol, 
in 1790 ; preached his last sermon on the twenty-third 
day of February, 1791; wrote his last letter on the 
twenty-sixth day of the same month, and, what is 
worthy of note, wrote it to Mr. Wilberforce, approv- 
ing of his efforts in Parliament to put an end to the 
African slave-trade ; and died on the second day of 
March, 1791. His last words were, " The best of all 
is, God is with us." 

At the time of his death the number of Methodists 
in Great Britain, France, and the West India Islands 
was eighty thousand, and in America fifty-eight thou- 
sand ; making a total of one hundred and thirty-eight 
thousand. 

It was predicted by some persons, and feared by 
others, that Methodism in England, when deprived of 
the wise oversight, the watchful zeal, and the personal 
influence of Mr. Wesley, would no longer continue to 



166 ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



prosper. Such predictions and fears have proved 
groundless. God was in the work, and it has gone 
forward. Arminian Methodism in England, as repre- 
sented by the Wesleyan Methodist Church and some 
minor branches, has grown immensely since the death 
of the great revivalist. It is also quite strong in 
Ireland. 

Methodism in Great Britain is non-episcopal in its 
form. The conferences of the different bodies of Meth- 
odists there elect their own presiding officers, and the 
appointments of the preachers are made according to 
a plan somewhat different from that which prevails in 
the United States. But the spirit, ideas, purposes, 
and aims of Arminian Methodists, wherever found, are 
the same. 

Methodism in the United States is, as has already 
been stated, except to a very small extent, episcopal 
in its form. The episcopacy of Methodism, however, 
is not diocesan, as is that of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, but general. A bishop who presides over a 
conference, and superintends the making of the ap- 
pointments of the preachers in one part of the work 
one year, may preside over another conference and 
superintend the making of the appointments of the 
preachers in another part of the work the next year. 
The bishops agree among themselves in regard to what 
particular part of the work each of them shall have 
charge of at any particular time. They meet for this 
purpose every six months. 

Dr. Coke, the first bishop of American Methodism, 



THE HISTORY OF METHODISM. 



167 



spent very little of his time in America. His mis- 
sionary zeal led him to devote his energies mainly to 
the work of establishing Methodism in new places. 
He crossed the Atlantic Ocean eighteen times in the 
prosecution of this work, and at last, in making his 
nineteenth voyage, on his way to India to establish the 
Church there, died on shipboard, May the 3d, 1814. 
His remains were committed to the deep. Mr. As- 
bury, the second bishop in point of time, has, in view 
of the fact that he remained in this country and gave 
direction to the spirit of Methodism here, ever been 
regarded as the great apostle of Methodism in America. 

The spread of Methodism in this country has been 
only a little less marvelous than the increase of the 
power and influence of the republic itself. The last 
of the leading denominations to obtain a foothold on 
American soil, it has outgrown all the rest, and is now 
the leading denomination, in respect to numbers and 
influence, in the country. 

It has not attained to its present position without 
great labors and great sacrifices on the part of its 
ministers and members. The history of these labors 
and sacrifices must be looked for in other books. 

Under the influence of irritating causes, the chief 
of which was that of slavery, it has been divided inlfo 
several branches. These branches, while operating 
separately, are one in all the doctrinal ideas, and sub- 
stantially one in all the methods of evangelization by 
which Methodism has ever been distinguished. The 
largest of these branches is that which bears the name 



168 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



under which the Church was organized in 1784 — the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. The next in size is the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Then there are 
three considerable branches of colored Episcopal Meth- 
odists, besides some smaller bodies of Methodists, epis- 
copal and non-episcopal. The whole number of actual 
members of the different branches of Methodism in the 
United States is between three and four millions. 

Methodism is now well established in many parts of 
the world. The whole number of actual communi- 
cants is about four million, five hundred thousand. 
Its schools and colleges are numerous. Its publishing- 
houses are immense. The circulation of its religious 
periodicals is unequaled by that of any other body of 
Christians. It has several theological schools in suc- 
cessful operation. And the spirit of devotion, activity, 
and zeal of its ministers and members has never been 
more manifest than it is to-day. It is truly the most 
wonderful revival of religion that has taken place since 
the days of the apostles. 



MEMBERSHIP. 



169 



Clfaptei' XXII. 



MEMBERSHIP, PROBATIONARY AND FULL. 



NION with the Methodist Episcopal Church be- 



^ gins, in the case of adults coming from the 
world, with probationary membership. The object of 
probationary membership is, that persons professing to 
have " a desire to flee from the wrath to come, and to 
be saved from their sins," may be enabled to show 
fruits of such desire before being received into full 
fellowship in the Church. 

The receiving of persons on probation before admit- 
ting them into full membership in the Church did not 
originate with Methodists. It was the usage among the 
primitive Christians. The object and tendency of it 
was to keep the Church pure and zealous. 

Probationary membership being a membership of 
test or trial of faith and purpose, it is the right of the 
probationer to withdraw from the Church at any time, . 
without asking the consent of the Church; and it is 
equally the right of the Church to drop his name at 
any time, when, after a fair opportunity has been 
given him to prove his sincerity and earnestness, he 
shall have failed to do so. The Church never, however, 
drops the name of a probationer as long as he seems to 
be earnestly endeavoring to live a life of godliness. 




\ 

170 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



While a person is on probation he is not entitled to 
hold any office in the Church which he would not be 
entitled to hold if he had not thus connected himself 
with the Church. 

The Church does not open its doors indiscriminately 
to all persons who may present themselves for proba- 
tionary membership. The Discipline says: " Let none 
be admitted on trial except they are well recommended 
by one you know, or until they have met twice or 
thrice in class." 

"It is the prerogative of the preacher in charge 
alone to receive persons on trial." (Baker on the Dis- 
cipline.) He may recognize persons whose names have 
been taken by another preacher or by a class-leader; 
but not until he does this are such persons properly 
on trial. 

The name of every person received on trial is placed 
by the preacher in charge on the list of probationers 
in the Church record, and the Discipline requires that 
every such person shall be assigned to a class, which 
meets weekly. The leader of the class is expected to 
do all in his power to aid the person thus placed under 
his spiritual oversight to live a life of godliness; and 
at the end of six months he is required to report to 
the Leaders' and Stewards' Meeting the manner in which 
such person has lived. If the report be favorable, and 
no one know any good reason to the contrary, the per- 
son is recommended for reception into full member- 
ship, and if baptism has not been administered previ- 
ously, he is baptized, and then received into full mem- 



MEMBERSHIP. 



171 



bership. If the Leaders' and Stewards' Meeting be not 
satisfied with the life of the person, or if the person 
himself, for some satisfactory reason, be not ready to 
be received at the end of six months, the probation 
may, if it seem best, be continued for a longer time ; 
but no one can be received into full membership who 
has been on probation for a shorter time than six 
months. 

The reception of a probationer into full member- 
ship is a public act. The person appears before the 
Church. The act of reception begins with an address 
to the Church, in which the exalted nature, the im- 
portant duties, and the great privileges of membership 
are emphasized. 

An address is then delivered to the candidate, after 
which the following questions are asked, and the cor- 
responding answers, given: 

Ques. "Do you here, in the presence of God and 
of this congregation, renew the solemn promise con- 
tained in the baptismal covenant; ratifying and con- 
firming the same, and acknowledging yourself bound 
faithfully to observe and keep that covenant?" 

Ans. "I do." & 

Ques. ' ' Have you saving faith in the Lord Jesus 
Christ?" 

Ans. "I trust I have." 

Ques. "Do you believe in the doctrines of Holy 
Scripture, as set forth in the articles of religion of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church ?" 

Ans. "I do." 



172 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



Ques. "Will you cheerfully be governed by the 
rules of the Methodist Episcopal Church, hold sacred 
the ordinances of God, and endeavor, as much as in 
you lies, to promote the welfare of your brethren, and 
the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom?" 

Ans. "I will." 

Ques. "Will you contribute of your earthly sub- 
stance, according to your ability, to the support of 
the Gospel and the various benevolent enterprises of 
the Church?" 

Ans. "I will." 

If no reason be alleged why the candidate should 
not be admitted into full membership, the right hand 
of fellowship is then extended to him by the pastor, 
and he is pronounced a full member of the Church. 

If baptism has not been received by the person 
previously to the time of his uniting with the Church 
on probation, he may be baptized at any time, 
when, in the judgment of the pastor, he shall seem 
to be qualified to receive the ordinance before being 
received into full membership. But it is not the de- 
sign that baptism should be administered till the 
person has given satisfactory evidence of the correct- 
ness of his faith and of the sincerity of his purposes. 

In regard to the reception of persons from other 
Churches, the Discipline says: "If a member in good 
standing in any other orthodox Church shall desire to 
unite with us, such applicant may, by giving satisfac- 
tory answers to the usual inquiries, be received at 
once into full fellowship." The " usual inquiries" are 



MEMBERSHIP. 



173 



such as are made in receiving a probationer into full 
membership. 

A full member of the Church can not be dismissed 
from Church membership by being "dropped," If the 
Church should become dissatisfied with him, the only 
way in which it can get rid of him, if he should not 
see proper to ask the privilege of withdrawing, is by 
formal trial, either for misconduct of some kind, or for 
neglect of duty. 

A member under complaint can not withdraw with- 
out the consent of the Church, provided the Church 
be willing to bring him to trial. But one against 
whom there is no complaint has the right to withdraw 
at any time. 

A person withdrawing from the Church has no 
right to demand a certificate of withdrawal, or any 
kind of paper. All that is necessary is that the pastor 
should make an entry opposite his name corresponding 
to the facts. "Certificates should not be given to 
those who withdraw from our Church, and do not 
intend to unite with any other evangelical Church." 
(Baker on the Discipline, Chap. IV, Sec. i, 10.) 

"A -preacher may give a note of recommendation 
to any member who wishes to unite with any other 
evangelical denomination." (Discipline, ^| 179, § 5.) 
But when this is done it is not done as a matter of 
"obligation," but, "as a matter of courtesy." (Baker 
on the Discipline, Chap. IV, Sec. i, 3.) 

The only person to whom a preacher is bound to 
give a certificate of membership is one, against whom 



174 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



there are no charges, ' ' who removes to another circuit 
or station." The authorized form of such a certifi- 
cate is in these words: "A. B., the bearer, has been an 
acceptable member of the Methodist Episcopal Church" with 
a statement of the place or of the name of the Church 
in which the membership was held, signed by the 
preacher in charge. Nothing else is needed to secure 
to the person to whom it is given full recognition by 
the preacher in charge and the members of the Church 
to which it is presented. 

It is the duty of^a member to hold his membership 
at the point at which he enjoys his Church privileges. 
e ' When pastoral charges are contiguous, there may be 
a change of Church relation from the one to the other 
without a change of residence; but if the member re- 
moves his residence beyond the reach of his privileges, 
and the oversight of his pastor and leader, he must 
remove his membership by certificate, unless he has no 
access to Church privileges convenient to his new resi- 
dence." (Baker on the Discipline, Chap. IV. Sec. i, 4.) 

It is not contemplated that a person receiving a cer- 
tificate should use it for any other purpose than that 
for which it is given. For a member to receive a 
certificate of membership, and hold it in his possession 
for any length of time beyond that which may be 
necessary, is to act in bad faith towards the Church. 

Occasionally a member of the Church is compelled 
to be absent from the place where he holds his mem- 
bership, without actually removing ' 'to another circuit 
or station." In such case he ought to communicate 



MEMBERSHIP. 



175 



by letter with the Church from time to time, by way 
of keeping the pastor and members informed of his 
religious state, and also by way of aiding in the sup- 
port of the Gospel and of the various benevolent en- 
terprises of the Church. When one takes membership 
in the Church, he does it without any condition ex- 
pressed or implied that he is to have a respite from 
duties and obligations at any time. 



176 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



dhkptef XXIII. 

HOW LONG AND UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES? 

~A /T ANY persons, after having made a fair start in 
J-^-L the Christian life, turn back to the world. 
This results, in most cases, from a want of sufficient 
previous consideration of the difficulties which lie in 
the way, and a conseqnent want of purpose and prep- 
aration to meet them. * 

It is of the greatest importance for every person 
beginning the Christian life to do so with a full and 
clear understanding that it does not promise those 
pursuing it exemption from sickness, pains, losses, 
alarms, and the various other vexations and annoy- 
ances to which those who are not pursuing it are sub- 
ject; that it does not prevent them from having ene- 
mies ; that it does not hide from them the faults of other 
persons ; that it does not prevent them from sometimes 
imagining faults where none, in fact, exist ; that it does 
not, in a word, promise to make their pathways 
smooth and easy before them, nor to dissipate the 
clouds which may at times gather about their heads. 

The religious life, if properly lived, gives peace and 
comfort in the midst of these things ; enables those 
who are enduring them to go forward cheerfully in 
spite of them ; sustains their courage and stimulates 



MEMBERSHIP. 



177 



their zeal in the pursuit of all that is right and true ; 
but it does not take them through this world by any- 
shorter or less difficult way than that in which others 
are led. 

It is necessary for you, dear friend, who have just 
begun this life, to have a correct understanding on 
this subject. Do not allow yourself to imagine that, 
because you have begun to confess Christ before the 
world, you are not to have any more trouble, anxiety, 
or care ; for, if you do, you will be sure to be disap- 
pointed, and will be led to think, when these things 
come upon you, that your lot is unreasonably hard, 
and will be tempted to turn away from God. 

Life is a succession of surprises. You need not 
expect your circumstances to remain as they are at 
present for any great length of time. You may 
change your place of residence, may be thrown among 
strange people, possibly among the irreligious, or, 
what is hardly less trying to sensitive souls, among 
those who are coldly religious. Possibly prosperity 
may smile upon you, and you may be tempted to take 
undue pleasure in luxurious living ; or, on the other 
hand, adversity may frown upon you, and you may 
be tempted to cultivate a dissatisfied and envious spirit. 
You may possibly, at times, sit under the ministra- 
tions of preachers who do not know you, or else who 
know you only as one among many, and who, conse- 
quently, are not able to sympathize with you in your 
struggles of faith. Some of those persons who are 

now starting out with you in the religious life may 

12 



178 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



turn back. Some of those who stand high in the con- 
fidence and esteem of the Church and of the world 
may, in an evil hour, yield to temptation, and bring 
disgrace upon themselves and the Church. Conten- 
tions may arise between members of the Church. 
Many things may go wrong. A hundred things may 
occur which may be calculated to discourage you. 
Look all these possibilities hi the face, now, in the very 
beginning of your Christian life, so that you may not 
be unduly astonished when any of them shall chance 
to turn to realities. While thinking of the good that 
lies before you, think also of the evil w T hich lies along 
the way in which it is necessary for you to go in order 
to the attainment of that good ; and then ask yourself 
the question, whether, in taking these first steps, you 
have taken them with any mental reservation or not. 
Ask yourself whether there is any secret thought in 
your mind or any lurking feeling in your heart of 
loving and serving God while all things go well with 
you, and of ceasing to love and serve him if a change 
shall take place for the worse ; any disposition to rest 
content with the pleasures of religion so long as those 
of the world seem difficult to be obtained, and of turn- 
ing to those of the world whenever they shall seem to 
be easily within your reach. Ask yourself the ques- 
tion whether you have chosen God to be your portion 
for a given time only, during residence in a certain 
place only, during the continuance of certain circum- 
stances only, while under the pastoral oversight of a 
certain minister only, while enjoying the associations of 



MEMBERSHIP. 



179 



certain persons only, or for life, wherever you may 
reside, whatever may be your circumstances, whoever 
may be your pastor, and whoever may be your asso- 
ciates. 

If you find doubts springing up in your mind, en- 
deavor to have them removed at once. You can not 
know, beforehand, in what frame of mind you will be 
at any given time in the future, and, therefore, 
whether at such time you will certainly resist tempta- 
tion, and prove true to the purposes which you now 
form, and to the vows which you now make, or will 
yield to temptation, and prove untrue to these pur- 
poses and vows. But this you can do : you can now, 
with all the facts and possibilities before you, reso- 
lutely make up your mind that, the Lord being your 
helper, you will try to love and serve him at all times, 
under all circumstances, at home and abroad, in the 
midst of the godly and in the midst of the ungodly, 
in prosperity or adversity, encouraged or opposed. 
Make no terms with your doubts or your fears. Break 
all bridges down behind you, and have no thought of 
surrender, defeat, or retreat. Without a settled pur- 
pose of this kind, you are in danger of yielding to 
temptation at any time. 



180 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



dllkptef XXIV. 

YOUR AIM— HOW HIGH. 
LL Christians are not equal in their experiences 



and attainments. Some are spoken of in the 
Scriptures as perfect, and are thus contrasted with oth- 
ers, who, consequently, are imperfect. Christ said, 
' ' The disciple is not above his master ; but every one 
that is perfect shall be as his master." (Luke vi, 40.) 
And Paul says, ' ' Howbeit we speak wisdom among 
them that are perfect." (1 Cor. ii, 6.) 

The perfect Christian is one who loves God with all 
his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind, and with 
all his strength; who is not actuated by selfish and 
worldly motives and aims, but by a sincere and ear- 
nest desire to do God's will ; who is in hearty sympa- 
thy with all the revealed plans and purposes of God ; 
and w T ho makes it his highest pleasure to promote the 
glory of God among men, and to keep himself un- 
spotted from the world. 

It is God's will that all should be perfect. Paul, 
speaking the mind of the Spirit, says, ' ' And this also 
we wish, even your perfection." (2 Cor. xiii, 9.) 
Also, "Be perfect." (2 Cor. xiii, 11.) Also, after 
having said that God had given apostles, prophets, 
evangelists, pastors, and teachers to the Church, he 




YOUR AIM — HOW HIGH. 



181 



says that this was done ' 6 for the perfecting of the 
saints." (Eph. iv, 12.) And again, that the preaching 
of the Gospel is in order 6 6 that we may present every 
man perfect in Christ Jesus." (Col. i, 28.) And 
then we are exhorted in these words : ' ' Therefore, 
leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us 
go on unto perfection." (Heb. vi, 1.) . 

The experience of Christian perfection is to be at- 
tained in the same way in which that of regeneration 
is attained ; that is, by a discovery, in the first place, 
of personal need, and then by yielding one's self, with 
entire submission and faith, to God, in the name and 
through the merits of Jesus Christ, while, at the same 
time, a conscience is kept void of offense toward God 
and toward man. The same Spirit that has enabled 
one to cry, ' ' Abba, Father!" will perfect the love of 
God in him, and enable him to exemplify the Christian 
virtues and graces more perfectly in his life. 

The perfection of the Christian life is not a perfec- 
tion in which the person who has attained it is raised 
above the liability of falling into errors of judgment. 
The Holy Ghost does not impart fullness of knowledge 
to any one, nor does it endow him with new faculties 
of mind. It purifies his affections, warms his heart 
with love, and affords him peace and joy in believing, 
but leaves him, so far as his understanding is con- 
cerned, just where it found him. As a little child, 
full of love for its parents, and full of a spirit of de- 
votion to their interests, may often err in judgment, 
so may a man whose heart is filled with love to God, 



182 



ELEMENTS OF METHODISM. 



and with an earnest zeal for the promotion of his honor 
and his glory. 

Neither is the perfection of the Christian life a per- 
fection in which the person who has attained it is 
raised above the possibility of falling into sin. As 
this possibility exists in all the lower stages of the 
Christian life, so it does in all the higher. But, though 
the possibility exists, there is no necessity that that 
possibility should ever become a reality. It is within 
the power of every Christian to resist temptation, and to 
stand firm in the love and obedience of God. He can 
do this by watchfulness and prayer. When these are 
constantly kept up, the adversary of souls can have 
no power over him. "God is faithful/' says the 
Apostle Paul, ' ' who will not suffer you to be tempted 
above that ye are able." (1 Cor. x, 13.) 

Every follower of Christ will, of necessity, be 
either a perfect or an imperfect Christian. Which it 
is better to be, there can, of course, be no question. 
It is assumed that you, dear friend, desire to be a per- 
fect Christian. If so, make up your mind now to en- 
deavor to make the most of all your opportunities. 
If you satisfy yourself with making no more of them 
than ordinary Christians do, you will almost certainly 
be no more than an ordinary Christian. If, on the con- 
trary, you use them thoughtfully, thankfully, and 
zealously, you will certainly attain to something more 
than ordinary excellence in the Christian life. 

But the perfection of the Christian life is peculiar 
in this resjDect, that it is a relative and not an abso- 



YOUR AIM — HOW HIGH. 



183 



lute perfection. The height to which one may have 
attained to-day may be below some other height 
to which it may be possible for him to attain to- 
morrow, and the highest height to which any hu- 
man being has ever attained is far, very far, below 
the perfection of God. There will always be room 
and occasion for the cultivation of godly aspirations 
and aims and efforts, how far soever one may already 
have advanced. 

You are exhorted, therefore, to be always looking 
ahead, and always striving to advance ; to endeavor to 
be more like Christ, and thus the more truly and per- 
fectly to represent the divine character, and attract 
men to the religion of Christ day by day. 

To this end observe the admonition of the Apostle 
Paul : ' ' Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, 
whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are 
just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things 
are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report ; if 
there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think 
on these things." (Phil, iv, 8.) 



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